The condenser fan on my older Carrier heat pump runs intermittently. It comes on when the heat pump is requested, but then it shuts off and on from time to time even though the heat pump is still running. I've had some pretty heavy frosting on the outside coil/fins sometimes.

Should the fan run constantly or only when needed? If it's supposed to run constantly, what should I look for in order to fix it other than just bad wiring to the fan motor?

Many thanks for any answers anyone's willing to give me!

Q

 

Q,

a heatpump operating correctly, will operate in these cycles. it should have a temp. sensor that tells the defrost board that it is getting too cold, or is operated by a timer or both. what happens is the heat pump reverses the direction of the refridgerant, basically putting itself into a/c mode, turning
on the heatstrips at the air handler ( other heat source, gas,propane, oil,etc.)
and turning off the fan at the heatpump. this is to defrost the any icing on
the coils. if you have any bands of frost wraping around the unit, you may want to have the refridgerant level checked, being sure that they also check for leaks if it is low ( quoting some other person on this forum " freon does'nt just go away, wear off, something like that"). hope some of this helps.

barry

 

Thanks, barry! (brentwoodpmg)

After I had posted, I went back out and watched the HP fan for awhile and saw that it cycled regularly and just what it was doing. I was just a little paranoid, because I'd never seen the fan at idle before in the past...just here recently a few times at random. The last thing I need at the moment is an HVAC bill, even if it turned out to be a problem that I could deal with myself. I'm sure we all know that feeling! lol I'll definitely be getting that refrigerant level checked, too.

Thanks again for your time, help and info!

Best regards,

Q