burning embers coming out of heat pump???

piglet

I have used a heat pump in my woodshop for years. It has been super - till this morning. I built a box surrounding the air intake to hold about 15 extra square feet of filters, which I try to keep unclogged - but a lot gets past them. I noticed embers this morning where the air exits the unit., so I shut the whole thing down and cleaned the inside coil really well and the squirrel cage fan too (both were pretty clogged up. Then the air started flowing like it was new when I was running just the fan. When I turned the heat back on - burning embers again! What should I be checking? What are the possibilities?

Jamie Hall

Does your heat pump have any resistance booster strips? If you are getting embers, something in there is getting hot enough to at least make them glow -- and the ordinary heat pump coils are nowhere near that. Another possibility is a bad bearing on a fan.

ratio

Whatever's going on, get someone to look at it before the fire dept does!

neilc

yeah,
check your homeowners insurance,
# no embers

piglet

Thank you, Jamie Hall. Squirrel cage was clogged to the point that little air was passing, debri on heat strips. cleaned all, now all is fine!