- 60 Hartsdale Rd, Rochester NY 14622
- 7am to 7pm · 7 days a week
- Call an owner: 585 454 8422
Steam pouring off your outdoor unit in January usually is not a fault. It is the defrost cycle doing its job, and it is one of the things we get called about most in winter when nothing is actually wrong. Here is how to tell normal behaviour from a real problem, and when to actually ring us.
No heat in winter, no cool in a heat wave, busted lines. We answer the phone day or night, weekends included.
A heat pump pulls warmth out of outdoor air, which means the outdoor coil runs colder than the air around it. In damp winter weather moisture condenses on that coil and freezes. So the system periodically reverses itself for a few minutes to melt the frost off, and while it does, steam billows off the unit, the fan stops, there is a loud whoosh as the valve shifts, and the air indoors goes cooler for a bit.
Every one of those looks alarming and every one of them is normal. Field studies that monitored cold climate heat pumps in real homes found defrost runs most often in damp weather between roughly ten and thirty degrees outside, which describes a good share of a Rochester winter. The same work found the defrost cycle did not meaningfully move average room temperature in those houses. So it looks dramatic and your home stays comfortable. We would rather you knew the difference, because there are genuine faults and they are further down this page.
Justin VanCassele and Colby Baker run AmeriHeat together. Colby is a veteran. Both owners are on jobs every week across Rochester and Monroe, Wayne and Ontario Counties.
Give them a call. They actually pick up.
Three things that look wrong and are not, and three that genuinely need us.
That is water vapour coming off the coil as frost melts, not smoke. It looks far worse than it is, particularly on a cold still morning. It should clear within roughly fifteen minutes and the system should go back to heating normally. Flames, sparks, or a burning smell are a different matter entirely and mean switch off and call.
That is the reversing valve changing direction to send hot refrigerant out to the coil, and the outdoor fan deliberately stopping so the heat stays where it is needed. It is abrupt and it is supposed to be.
Heat pumps deliver a gentler, longer warmth rather than the hot blast of a furnace. Supply air typically runs somewhere between eighty five and a hundred degrees, dropping toward the lower end as it gets colder out, against a furnace pushing a hundred and twenty plus. That is warmer than the room and still feels lukewarm on your hand. Long run times are how they are meant to work.
Light frost is expected. A unit encased in a solid block that is still there after half an hour is not defrosting properly. That points at a failed defrost sensor or control board, a stuck reversing valve, or low refrigerant. Left alone the ice can damage the coil and the fan.
A brief aux indicator during defrost or a sharp cold snap is fine. One that is lit constantly means the heat pump is not carrying the load and expensive electric strips are doing the work instead. You will see it on the bill before you see it anywhere else.
Frequent defrost in damp weather near freezing is normal. Defrosting every few minutes regardless of conditions is not, and usually means a dirty coil, a sensor misreading, or a refrigerant problem. Grinding or metallic noises mean switch off rather than investigate.
The setting marked emergency or EM heat on your thermostat is a manual override. It shuts the outdoor unit out of the picture entirely and heats the house using electric resistance strips, or the backup furnace on a dual fuel setup. It is genuinely useful when the heat pump has failed and you need warmth tonight. What it does not do is defrost a frozen unit or fix anything, and running on it for weeks is expensive, because resistance heat is the least efficient way to warm a house.
Two things not to do. Do not cover the outdoor unit in winter. It needs airflow to work and covering it causes exactly the icing problem people are trying to prevent. And do not chip, scrape, or pour hot water on a frozen coil. The fins and tubing are thin, puncturing them releases the refrigerant, and that turns a sensor fault into a major repair.
It is not a defect. To pull heat out of thirty degree air the coil has to run colder than thirty degrees, often ten to twenty below the surrounding air. Moisture condenses on that cold surface and freezes. Every heat pump expects this, which is why defrost exists. In damp weather you may see it run several times an hour and still be normal. The question is whether it clears and goes back to heating.
The diagnostic is $99 and it is real work. We find the actual fault and give you a straight price before touching anything. And if what you are describing is normal defrost, we will say so.
There has been a great deal of building in Henrietta, so heat pumps are more common here than in older housing further out. That matters because plenty of owners are on their first one with no baseline for what normal sounds and looks like in winter. Nothing has gone wrong. It simply behaves differently from the furnace you grew up with, and knowing that saves worry and call-out fees.
Not sure whether it is a fault? Call 585 454 8422 or request service. Describe what it is doing and we will tell you straight.
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Call the owners directly. If it is a real fault we will find it. If it is normal defrost, we will tell you that instead of booking a visit.
Call, email, or send the form. Not a call center. Describe what your system is doing and we will tell you honestly whether it needs a visit.
