Heat pump – The sustainable technology in many industries

The Heat pump has now become common in many industries and commercial buildings. Heat pump technology provides an efficient and sustainable solution for process heating and cooling applications. When the heat pump operates in a healthy condition, there is great opportunity to save a large amount of energy and cut your energy bill. It is not uncommon for the heat pump systems to operate with lower system efficiency than the efficiencies measured at standard conditions in manufacturers’ laboratories. Sometimes, a trivial installation or control error can lead to the performance degradation of the whole system to a large extent.

To minimize the number of faults in the heat pump installation and performance degradation, one should have knowledge about the faults and how to tackle them. In our earlier blog: Flowrate vs Pipe Sizing (attach link), we have already discussed what should be considered for optimal performance of the heat pump.

Now let’s see the common heat pump problems that occurs due to poor maintenance and how you should handle them:

1. Stops producing heat

If the heat pump stops producing heat and trips off after a few months of installation, the problem could be as simple as a faulty temperature sensor. A mistakenly wired/type temperature sensor can fry electronic components, preventing the heat pump from working properly. Check if the temperature sensor type and wiring/calibration are as per the manufacturer’s recommendation.

2. Not Enough Heat

If your heat pump is running and not generating sufficient heat to meet the requirement. Then, the evaporator coil is to blame. In industrial ambience, the evaporator coils are quickly filled with dirt/oil particles.

If your heat pump starts to generate heat less than the standard capacity, clean the evaporator coil to get the optimal performance. Develop a maintenance plan to clean the evaporator coil regularly. Another potential cause for low heat production is poor refrigerant flow. In that case, contact us to schedule a service call.

3. Running Constantly

If your heat pump runs constantly and struggles to maintain the temperature, the problem could be insufficient flow to the condenser or the evaporator coil is not cleaned for a long time. The insufficient flowrate occurs due to choking in the strainer or heat exchangers. The strainers and heat exchangers should be cleaned regularly to yield the consistent performance.

The other reasons for continuous running might be refrigerant leak or feedback sensor failure or compressor failure.If you’re unsure about the problem, don’t hesitate to call us. The sooner we’re able to diagnose and fix the cause of issues, the better.