{"id":940,"date":"2012-01-25T08:00:38","date_gmt":"2012-01-25T13:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saddlebackplumbing.com\/blog\/?p=940"},"modified":"2025-09-11T12:00:43","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T16:00:43","slug":"trabuco-canyon-heat-pump-tips-common-questions-about-heat-pumps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saddlebackplumbing.com\/blog\/services\/trabuco-canyon-heat-pump-tips-common-questions-about-heat-pumps\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Questions about Heat Pumps"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Even if you installed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.saddlebackplumbing.com\/heating\/heat-pumps\">heat pump<\/a> in your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.saddlebackplumbing.com\/california\/trabuco-canyon-ca\">Trabuco Canyon<\/a> home years ago, you may still have questions about the normal operation of your indoor and outdoor units. Here are answers to a few of the more common questions about heat pumps.<\/p>\n<h2><b>What Should a Professional Heat Pump Maintenance Include?<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Two seasonal tune\u2011ups (spring &amp; fall)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to prepare the system for heating and cooling cycles.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Cleaning or replacing air filters<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and cleaning indoor coils, condensate drain lines, and outdoor condenser coils.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Inspecting refrigerant levels<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, checking for leaks, and tightening electrical connections and safety controls.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Clearing debris around the outdoor unit, trimming vegetation and ensuring proper airflow clearance.<\/b><b style=\"font-size: revert; color: initial; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">Testing system performance<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, including thermostat and defrost cycle operation, and lubricating moving parts where needed.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Do I need to schedule a heat pump maintenance visit before each season, or just once a year?<\/h3>\n<p>Scheduling a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.saddlebackplumbing.com\/heating\/heating-maintenance\">yearly maintenance<\/a> visit is necessary to the proper upkeep and safe operation of your heat pump. This also extends the life of the system and helps it run more efficiently. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.saddlebackplumbing.com\/blog\/services\/steps-to-take-before-turning-on-your-furnace-a-guide-from-aliso-viejo\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pre-season heating system preparation<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can also be beneficial if you want to ensure your system is fully optimized before colder weather arrives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Should I be concerned about the steam coming from my outdoor unit?<\/h3>\n<p>All heat pumps have a defrost cycle that melts the frost off of the outdoor coils in the winter. The steam rising from the outdoor unit results from the defrost cycle. If you notice that the defrost cycle lasts longer than ten to fifteen minutes, or if it cycles on and off frequently, you should call a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.saddlebackplumbing.com\/contact-us\">service technician<\/a> to look at your heat pump. There could be an issue with airflow that is affecting the compressor.<\/p>\n<h3>I just installed a heat pump. Why is my furnace running?<\/h3>\n<p>Many heat pump systems use the furnace fan blower to help distribute the heat throughout the house. Unless you\u2019ve installed a geothermal heat pump, your furnace is most likely your backup heater, so it will kick on when the outside temperature drops below 20\u00b0 F.<\/p>\n<h3>Is it really that important to clean my outdoor unit? It\u2019s impossible to keep it clean all the time.<\/h3>\n<p>Yes, cleaning the outdoor unit is an especially important maintenance task. Not only does a routine cleaning of all the outdoor components maintain your heat pump\u2019s efficiency and performance levels, it also prevents safety hazards. <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keeping components clean contributes to<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.saddlebackplumbing.com\/blog\/services\/how-can-i-be-sure-my-homes-air-is-safe-a-question-from-santa-ana\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">improving indoor air quality<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, especially for homes that rely heavily on year-round HVAC operation. <\/span>When you schedule a yearly maintenance visit with one of our technicians, cleaning the coils and outdoor unit is part of the service; however, if you want to clean the coils yourself, have one of our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.saddlebackplumbing.com\/california\/trabuco-canyon-ca\">Trabuco Canyon\u00a0technicians<\/a> show you how to do this before you attempt it on your own. You could suffer from electric shock if you are not familiar with the proper cleaning procedure. You can also help by making sure that the debris is cleared from around the outdoor unit.<\/p>\n<p>If you have any questions about the heat pump in your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.saddlebackplumbing.com\/california\/trabuco-canyon-ca\">Trabuco Canyon<\/a> home, or if you\u2019d like to schedule a maintenance appointment, give Saddleback Plumbing a call any time. <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We can also help you identify<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.saddlebackplumbing.com\/blog\/services\/sources-of-carbon-monoxide-a-tip-from-coto-de-caza\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">carbon monoxide risks in the home<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and ensure your heating system is operating safely.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Even if you installed a heat pump in your Trabuco Canyon home years ago, you may still have questions about the normal operation of your indoor and outdoor units. Here are answers to a few of the more common questions&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[246],"tags":[166,122,218,21,132,69,90],"class_list":["post-940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-services","tag-coto-de-caza","tag-dana-point","tag-heat-pump-installation","tag-heat-pumps","tag-lake-forest","tag-orange-county","tag-trabuco-canyon"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saddlebackplumbing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saddlebackplumbing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saddlebackplumbing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saddlebackplumbing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saddlebackplumbing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=940"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.saddlebackplumbing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3810,"href":"https:\/\/www.saddlebackplumbing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940\/revisions\/3810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saddlebackplumbing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saddlebackplumbing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saddlebackplumbing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}