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My outdoor unit of the heat pump will get quite a thick layer of frost on it from time to time. The unit seems to be working OK. I do have to switch it to "emergency heat" once in a while when it is extremely cold. I never see other people's units frosting up... I wonder if it is a bad sign ...that maybe it is about to give out?
Julie, the short answer is no. Frost on the Outside coil is normal if the temperatures are low and there is humidity available. If you stand arround and watch for awhile you may see it go into a defrost cycle too. That is when the outside fan stops, but the compressor keeps running. When this happens it melts the frost on the coil and you may see a cloud off "steam"start rising off the coil this is normal and when the temperatures are right can be quite startling! It's during theses defrost cycles you may notice the air comming out of your registers if any, is a little colder or that you're emergency heat light comes on. some units stop the indoor fan when this occurs, others bring on the electric heat strips to temper the air while the unit is in defrost. I don't know what "extremely cold" is for you, but there is a point when the outside ambient air temperatures are low that heat pumps without electric heat strips can struggle to maintain enough heat to offset the heat lost through radiation or leaky doors and windows or poor insulation. Hope this helps?
