Roof Over Heat Pump

We have never had snow inside ours.

Roof over heat pump.

This structure just happened to be beside the heat pump. The outdoor unit of the mitsubishi heat pump system can freeze up in the winter or become bound up with snow. There are several advantages to having a permanent roof over an outdoor heat pump. What is the rule.

My heat pump is on the north side of my home in arizona and i have a 3 foot roof overhang. At a previous house where i had the problem of roof run off icing up my unit in winter i had an open style arch trellis like structure that went over the path at the side of the house. Structure was about 3 feet wide. We have lots of heat pumps in our general area and have only seen one heat pump with a roof over it.

Heat pumps are manufactured to deal with an average amount of ice buildup by using its automatic defrost system and switching to heat distribution mode. Keeps rain leaves twigs and branches further away and keeps the unit cleaner. Heat pumps supply both heat and air. When these things occur the system may start a defrost cycle and use considerably more energy or it may just not work efficiently.

If you follow that guideline your warranty will be intact and you will be able to build a roof over your heat pump to protect it from the weather. Keeps direct sunlight off during cooling season. Every heat pump manufacturer has installation instructions that are available online inside you will find a section called clearances. No freezing rain can put the blower out of balance with lopsided icing.

This cycle normally lasts around 15 minutes and works by returning the hot refrigerant back to the outdoor heat pump to melt the ice and snow similar to how heat pumps work in the summer. Is this a good idea. This article describes the recommended minimum and maximum distances to separate an air conditioner or heat pump outdoor compressor condenser unit from building walls other equipment fences shrubs etc in our photo at page top these two compressor condenser units are too close together as well as too close to the building walls. You need to keep snow away from it sides and top.

The heat pump requires lots of air to work well. My unit is in the shade all year and the air temperature difference between shade and sun exposure is quite large. Clearance distances for outdoor hvac compressor condenser units. And we built a roof over the unit to shed most of the rain and snow.

Keeps snow away from the top and sides where it would impede.