Repairing an Air Conditioner Unit That Won’t Heat

Is your Air Conditioner unit’s heat pump refusing to heat up, and driving you crazy?

You are not alone! In fact, this is something that affects thousands of people every day all over the world.

I know that having problems with a device designed for comfort is not fun. Especially when it’s freezing inside your home, and you really need heat.

But don’t worry, you’ve come to the right place for answers. Below, you’ll find a list of a few things you can try to get everything back to normal and stop feeling like you’re living inside a freezer.

If your Air Conditioner unit is not heating, you can try checking your settings, cleaning the air filters, and checking for refrigerant leaks. If that fails, you can also take a closer look at the fans of the machine and see if you see any damage.

Read on to end the Ice Age!

#1 Check your settings

First, let’s cover something very obvious, yet common to Air Conditioner owners.

I know you might think there’s no way on Earth you’ve entered your desired settings incorrectly, but you’d be surprised how often this happens.

When something goes wrong with our electronics, we tend to look at the more complicated possibilities first, and consider the obvious as a last resort. However, this is not the right way to do things. Remember, Solving a problem is about moving from the closest definition to the least accessible aspects.

Solution: Take a closer look at the settings on your remote control, or check the display on your thermostat. Make sure you haven’t accidentally set the utility to cool down and go from there. As long as you are 100% sure that you dialed everything correctly, please read on for some fixes.

#2 Clean Air Filters

Now that we’ve got the user error out of the way, let’s talk about the fix. I know this is a tedious thing to do, and most appliance owners tend to skip it altogether. But what if I told you that failure to clean the filters of your Air Conditioner will not only explain this condition but also increase energy consumption and shorten the life of the unit?

There’s a good chance that, if you haven’t cleaned your filters in a while, the air flow is seriously affected, thus leaving you stuck with fixing a heat pump that won’t heat up.

Solution: To clean your air filters, please follow the simple steps below:

1. If possible, turn off the electricity in the room where you will be working.
2. Turn off the Air Conditioning unit.
3. Most models can be easily opened by lifting the front panel up (if your model has screws, carefully remove them to lift the front tab).
4. You will immediately see the unit filters.
5. Carefully remove them and place them somewhere to clean.
6. Use a vacuum to carefully remove any debris and dust buildup from the filters. You can also gently wash them in the sink with water.
7. Repeat the process for all food units in your home.

Ideally, you’ll want to do this at least twice a year, but if you live in an area with a lot of dust or pollen, you may want to increase the frequency of cleaning.

#3 Check for Refrigerant Leaks

You’re probably wondering what refrigeration has to do with heating, and I don’t blame you. After all, it sounds very similar to “refrigerator”, so it must only be related to cooling, right?

Well… not really.

In fact, a refrigerant leak can easily explain why you’re stuck trying to fix an Air Conditioner heat pump that won’t heat up.

You see, this fluid is responsible for about 60% of your engine’s performance, as it acts as a “car” for heat dissipation/retention.

If there is a leak in your Air Conditioner unit, there is not enough refrigerant to transport the hot/cold air through the evaporator/condenser coils, thus creating earth problems.

Solution: Detecting refrigerant leaks can be challenging, and is almost always best left to the professionals. Locating a leak is challenging enough, let alone replacing a refrigerator.

#4 Check Equipment Fans

Finally, let’s make sure that the fan on your machine is working normally.

The fan is located on an outdoor unit in your yard or in a designated area. Heat pumps work by extracting heat from the outside air, compressing it with a compressor and sending the refrigerant (now hot, high vapor) to the indoor coil where the blower sends the cool air from your house through the coil where the jt picks up the heat.

Something that wouldn’t have happened without the fans.

More often than not, Air Conditioner fans and their motors are guaranteed to last a very long time. However, certain conditions, including power surges, improper operation or over-working of a component can sometimes break it.

This may explain why you’re stuck fixing an Air Conditioner heat pump that can’t heat, or can’t keep up with your cooling needs.

Solution: Replacing your fan motor may sound challenging, but it’s actually quite easy. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Get a replacement fan and motor from your manufacturer or the nearest hardware store. To find the right one, check the part model number on the part itself and search Google for price estimates and availability.
2. Locate the unit outside your home and see if the fan blades spin normally. If not, disconnect the power supply to the machine, as this usually means that there is something wrong with the motor, and you will need to hold hands.
3. Carefully remove the screws holding the top grid to expose the fan.
4. Trace the cable from the fan to the inside of the appliance and remove any exterior panels to reveal where the wires go.
5. Once you have located the fan cable hub, disconnect the entire cable, so you can remove the fan and motor freely.
6. Once you have the new fan and motor, carefully reconnect the part to the cable hub you worked on earlier and reassemble the unit.
7. Restore power to the machine and see if the fan is now working properly.

Disclaimer: don’t be too quick to move on this, as when in heat mode the unit may be in defrost mode which works when the fan is off while the compressor is still on. Keep checking to see if the fan is working properly several times before deciding to replace it.

The conclusion

If you’re stuck fixing an air conditioner with a heat pump that won’t heat, convenience can go out the window, leaving only frustration.

Fortunately, as I hope this article has helped you to see, in most cases, dealing with the most common causes behind this situation is very easy and fast. More often than not, simple actions, like checking your fan motor, and cleaning the air filters regularly, should do the trick.

Thank you so much for sticking with me until the end. If you found this article helpful and piqued your interest, you’ll be happy to know that there are tons of other resources for you to read below!

Good week.

— Craig.