Cold weather can put a lot of strain on heat pump systems, making it difficult to maintain comfortable temperatures indoors. With the right preparations and maintenance strategies, however, you can ensure that your Õhk-vesi soojuspumbad continues to operate effectively even during periods of extreme cold. Here are some essential tips for protecting and operating your heat pumps during cold weather:
1. Use an antifreeze solution
To prevent frost damage, any exposed pipework should be treated with an antifreeze solution or heating cable. This is especially important if you have outdoor units installed in colder climates. These solutions or cables will help prevent the pipes from freezing due to ice build-up and other problems associated with cold weather.
2. Keep outdoor units clear
Snow and debris should be kept away from outdoor units as much as possible to prevent snow from clogging vents or interfering with the operation of components inside the unit. It’s always best to shovel snow away as soon as possible after a snowfall to avoid the risk of blocked vents or damaged components inside the unit due to heavy snow and ice accumulation.
3. Check weatherstripping and insulation
Replace any worn weatherstripping around windows and doors before winter sets in, as this can cause air infiltration, forcing your system to work harder than necessary to maintain comfortable indoor temperatures. Also check the level of insulation in your loft, as inadequate insulation can cause cold spots throughout your home, which in turn will put extra strain on your system as it tries to heat up the interior quickly enough to maintain the desired level of comfort indoors.
4. Change filters & lubricate moving parts
Dirty filters impede proper airflow through your system, causing it to work harder than necessary when trying to heat rooms sufficiently for comfort, so make sure you change filters regularly according to the manufacturer’s specifications (usually every month or two). In addition, lubricate all moving parts inside the unit according to the manufacturer’s instructions so that they don’t dry out due to overuse caused by prolonged periods of extreme cold outside, which require your system to be used more frequently than usual just to maintain the desired indoor temperatures, while still using less energy overall than other heating systems would use in the same outdoor temperature conditions.
5. Service your system regularly
Make sure you schedule regular service visits by certified HVAC technicians at least once a year (preferably twice) to check all components such as refrigerant levels and other vital parameters specifically related to the continued good operation of these types of machines as these are often subject to too rapid changes where temperatures outside suddenly drop overnight forcing us to react immediately and cool them down faster than normal situations would otherwise dictate.
6 . Don’t forget about thermostats
Thermostats need to be checked regularly by professionals, apart from occasional cleaning by homeowners themselves, as dust particles accumulate on internal sensors, causing false readings and thus leading to inaccurate results in terms of what our machine thinks it needs to do next in terms of either increasing or decreasing its operating speed, depending on the current circumstances.
7 . Monitoring refrigerant levels
As mentioned above, refrigerant levels should always be within the manufacturer’s recommended limits, that’s why regular checks include this very important parameter, allowing us to identify potential problems before they occur, thus avoiding serious consequences resulting from faulty operation further down the line, potentially leading to catastrophic failures, ultimately costing us far more money than originally anticipated if we had taken preventative measures earlier, instead of waiting for something to actually happen before trying to fix it afterward.
8 . Adjust settings accordingly
Last but not least, don’t forget to adjust settings accordingly whenever sudden changes occur where the ambient temperature outside drops significantly below initial forecasts, requiring an immediate response such as reducing fan speeds/increasing compression ratios, etc. This has already been discussed here before and helps our machines cope better under extreme pressure, usually associated with plummeting thermometer readings, sometimes reaching near-zero levels. In concrete terms, therefore, do whatever is necessary to maintain optimum performance while conserving energy wherever possible, thus giving us plenty of room to maneuver even when resources become scarce, eventually limiting our choices severely in the end.
