Glen J., AAA Heating & Air Conditioning Senior Technician

Question:  I just looked out my window and saw smoke coming from my heat pump!  I turned off power to my heat pump and put my thermostat into emergency heat in case something was wrong.  Help!  –Sarah F., Renton, WA

Answer:  Don’t worry, you can go ahead and turn your heat pump back on.  What you saw was probably steam that happens as a result of your heat pump’s defrost cycle.  Every hour or so when your system is in heating mode, it will blow hot air over its coils to keep it free from frost and ice.  This action can produce steam, sometimes quite a bit of it.  A little bit of frost can be completely normal to see on your heat pump coils, however, if you see a thicker ice building up, you will want to call us to schedule a service technician to take a look at it.  To fully ensure that your heat pump is in proper working order and is fully clean, you will also want to make sure that you have had a trained technician perform a Precision Tune Up twice a year for your heating & cooling system (once a year for a heating only system).

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