TROUBLESHOOTING HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS…OPEN CONTROL VOLTAGE CIRCUITS

One of the more frustrating and difficult situations with heat pump diagnostics is open circuits in the control wiring. There is a logical process to follow when attempting to locate the failure…

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8 Responses to “TROUBLESHOOTING HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS…OPEN CONTROL VOLTAGE CIRCUITS”

  1. I am studing heat pumps. on all diagrams for then there is a oriface at the bottom. Nothing I can find says what it is for. whats it for

  2. wayneshirley Says:

    I assume you’re referring to a diagram of the refrigerant system…the orifice is the metering device that feeds refrigerant to which ever coil is acting as the evaporator…

  3. I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH MY HEAT PUMP, ITS ABOUT 14 YRS OLD. IT WILL RUN FINE AND GO THROUGH THE DEFROST CYCLE AND SOME TIMES THE RED EMERGENCY LIGHT COMS ON. IF I TURN OFF THE HEAT AND WAITE 5 TO 10 MINS. IT WILL WORK A FEW MORE TIMES AND THE RED LIGHT COMES ON AGAIN AND I HAVE TO TURN THE HEAT OFF AGAIN. IT SEEM LIKE IT COMES ON MORE OFTEN WHEN IT IS COLDER LIKE AT NIGHT. ANY HELP..??? THANKS

  4. wayneshirley Says:

    ..it pretty much depends on what the red light means. Is there a second light for “aux heat” also on the stat, or just one light? some systems are designed to turn on the light when there is a problem…some times the light comes on as a result of faulty controls and there really isn’t a problem…if the light is also an indicator for second stage heat, then it’s just telling you second stage heat is on…the system could be low on refrigerant and not heating as well as it should, causing second stage heat to kick in…and the defrost control could be faulty causing the problem…and there could be an intermittent wiring problem somewhere…the fact that it comes on more often at night (colder) would suggest it’s a second stage heat call…and/or more defrost cycles.

  5. I recently came across this video by Wayneshirley… it was concerning sequencers on kw heaters getting stuck and pulling constant power etc…. and it was most helpful to me in attempting to find out why a customers system was running up her electric bills and whatnot….

    In any case, my question is, “where can I come across and entire series of videos such as these which might help me to bone up on my service/diagnostics skills, etc?!?!? I read up on HVAC related topics on a daily basis…. and would really find it helpful to find out where i can consistently pull up videos like this one… but which would cover other types of systems and troubleshooting etc…

    Hope i was clear on this… Thanks JP

  6. I have a bad Capacitor on a heat pump 30 mfd 370 v my supplier has only a 30 mfd 440 v they have to order one will it hurt the compessor if I change the voltage side of the cap.

  7. wayneshirley Says:

    ..replacing run capacitors with a higher voltage rating is not a problem…going down from 440 to 370 is not advisable.

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