Quick repair guide

Here are a few simple tips to try to get your heat pump or your furnace running. These suggestions are given as an indication. If the problem persists, contact us and place a service call, and we will send you a technician as soon as possible.

RESTART A FURNACE OR A HEAT PUMP THAT IS OUT OF ORDER

1 - You have no heat with a oil fired furnace.

***NEVER PRESS MORE THAN ONCE ON THE 'RESET' BUTTON.*** Each time you press the 'reset' button, oil is injected into the combustion chamber. The more oil there is, the greater the risk of fire, explosion or soot damage. If you press too many times, the technician will have to disassemble the burner and the combustion chamber in order to clean the excess oil, a long and expensive process$$$.

STEP A:  Make sure your thermostat is turned on. If it is lit, go to Step B. If it is off and it's a battery thermostat model, replace the batteries. If your thermostat has no batteries (which is generally the case), it is electrically powered by the furnace. In this case, you should check the furnace circuit breakers. To do this, you must check a first circuit breaker that will be in the electrical panel. Make sure the circuit breaker is well underway in position '' on ''. Then you must check the furnace service circuit breaker (disconnect). This one is usually located in the furnace chamber and looks like this:

In this box you will find either a circuit breaker or fuses. Make sure the circuit breaker is switched on or replace the fuses. If the thermostat turns on, go to step B. If it remains off, place a service call.

STEP B:  Make sure your thermostat is in 'emergency heat' mode and set the requested temperature to 26ºC or 78ºF. You can now have 3 situations:

                        - the heating went back;
                        - the inside fan works, the lights on the thermostat are on, but you do not have hot air. Go to step C.

                         - The indoor fan does not work, the lights on the thermostat are on, but you do not have hot air. Place a service call.

STEP C:  The inside fan works, the lights on the thermostat are on, but you do not have hot air. 

                        - Do you have any oil?  If no, get an oil delivery; The deliverer can then start your furnace.
                        - If the answer is yes, go to step D.

STEP D:  You must find the burner reset button. Depending on the furnace model, you may need to remove a panel from the furnace to access the button. Generally the knob is directly on the burner or right next to it. It will be red with a '' Press to reset '' inscription. It should look like this:

Press the reset button one (1) once. Two situations may arise:

                        - The burner has restarted and it has been running for more than a minute, your furnace is now in working condition and the heating has returned.
                        -The burner does not start at all or it has started again and turned off again in less than a minute, place a service call.

2 - You have no heat with an electric furnace.

STEP A: Make sure your thermostat is turned on. If it is on, go to step B. If it is off and it is a model of a thermostat with batteries, replace the batteries. If your thermostat does not have batteries (which is the case in general), it is electrically powered by the furnace. In this case, you should check the furnace circuit breakers. To do this, you must check a first circuit breaker that will be in the electrical panel. Make sure the circuit breaker is in the 'on' position. You also need to verify the circuit breakers that are located on the furnace itself. Then you also have to check the furnace service circuit breaker (disconnect). This one is usually located in the furnace chamber and looks like this:

STEP B: Make sure your thermostat is in 'emergency heat' mode and set the requested temperature to 26ºC or 78ºF. Wait 5 minutes. You can now have 3 situations:

                        - the heating restart;
                        - the inside fan works, the lights on the thermostat are on, but you do not have hot air. Go to step C.

                         -the indoor fan does not work, the lights on the thermostat are on, but you do not have hot air. Go to step C.

STEP C: You will try to reset your furnace. To do this, you will close the furnace breaker for a period of 5 minutes. You then return your circuit breaker to the 'on' position. You can now encounter 2 situations:

                          -The furnace starts and you feel warm air after a few minutes.

                          - The furnace still does not work, place a service call.

3 - Troubleshooting on central heat pump in heating mode.

When your central heat pump does not produce heat, you can put your thermostat in emergency mode at any time to activate the furnace so that it can take over for your heating. If the furnace does not kick in, refer to the troubleshooting guide above.

Troubleshooting a heat pump that is down in the winter is rather limited. You can still perform the following checks:

STEP A: Make sure your thermostat is in heating or auto mode. Make a request for heating by placing the requested temperature inside on your thermostat to 1º higher than what you have as indoor temperature. Then:

-Make sure the circuit breaker of the heat pump on the electrical panel is in the 'on' position. You can set it to '' off '' and set it back to '' on 'to make sure 100%.

-Make sure that the service circuit breaker on the outside of the heat pump is in the 'on' position. You can set it to '' off '' and set it back to '' on'' to be 100% sure.

Now you can deal with the following three situations:

-The heat pump fan (outdoors) does not work. Go to step B.

- The heat pump fan (outside) works but you still do not have heat. Turn the thermostat to emergency mode, close the circuit breaker of the heat pump and place a service call.

- The heat pump has restarted and gives you heat.

STEP B:  The fan of the heat pump does not work. If it is caught in snow or ice, de-ice your heat pump. To do this, put your thermostat in emergency mode. Close the circuit breaker of the heat pump. De-ice your heat pump with hot water, taking care not to pour water into the service panel. If it is very cold, wait until the weather is more mild to perform this operation. When the heat pump is de-iced, repeat step A.

If your heat pump is free of ice and snow and the fan is not working, you may try to press the reset button on the heat pump. Unfortunately, not all heat pumps have one. If there is no apparent reset button or the heat pump does not start again when you press it, turn your thermostat to emergency mode, turn off the circuit breaker of the heat pump and place a service call.

4-Troubleshooting a heat pump in cooling mode.

You may encounter mainly the following 3 situations: 

- The outdoor unit does not work. Go to situation A.
- The outdoor unit works but you do not have air conditioning. Go to situation B.
- The outside tubing or the outdoor coil or the indoor coil is filled with ice.

If the outdoor tubing or the outdoor coil or the indoor coil are frozen, turn off the appliance and wait until it is thawed. Check if your filters are blocked. This is one of the common causes for which piping and inner coil freeze. When the appliance is thawed, restart it and check in which situation you are (A or B).

*** If the piping and the indoor coil are frozen, you must ensure that the unit has had the time to thaw before a technician checks your system. If the appliance is still frozen, the technician will switch off the appliance and he will have to go back to your place when it is thawed. It may take about 24 hours before a machine is completely thawed. This depends of course on the climatic conditions and if you have shut off your heat pump ***

Situation A:  The outdoor unit does not work. 

1. Check that your thermostat is in air cooling mode.
2. Make sure you have a temperature request of 20 degrees or less.
3. Check if your fuses are burnt and your circuit breaker is 'on'.
4. Check if your filters are blocked.
5. Press the 'reset' button on the external device (if applicable, not all devices have a 'reset' button).

If you have done all these checks and the unit still does not work, perform the following steps:

1. Put you thermostat to « off ».
2. Set back your thermostat to air conditioning mode with a 20-degree set point.
3. Wait 30 minutes. 

If there is no change, set the thermostat to 'off', leave the indoor fan at 'on' and place a service call.

Situation B : The outdoor unit works but you do not have air conditioning.

First, check if your indoor fan is working. If it works, follow these steps:

1. Close the air vents in the basement.
2. Check if your filters are blocked.

Turn off the unit. Wait about 30 minutes. When this is done, put back the air conditioning on at the thermostat. If after half an hour you have no change, place a service call and turn off the device. When an appliance operates and does not produce air conditioning, it may overheat and become damaged if it remains in operation. It is then very important to turn off a working device that does not produce any cooling.

5-You have cooling but there is water dripping from your central or wall mounted system.

The presence of water can come from two sources:

         - Water from melting ice

         - Water that is not properly draining

You must first determine from which source the water comes. To do this, carry out the following checks:

1. Check for ice on the indoor coil, on the inner coil tubing near the furnace, or on the outside unit.

              In case you notice the presence of ice:

                         1.1. Turn off the appliance and leave the ice to melt

                         1.2. Check the cleanliness of the air filter (s). A clogged filter is often responsible for cases of condensation.

                         1.3.Switch the appliance on again. If the ice is reforming, switch off the appliance and place a service call.

2. There is no ice but water still flows. It may well be that the presence of water is caused by a drain problem:

2.1. For a wall mounted system, see if the water drains out of the drain. If the water seems to flow normally through the drain but still is flowing inside the home, turn the unit off and place a service call. If there is no water draining out of the drain, it probably means that your drain is blocked. If you own a shopvac, you can 'blow off' your drain from the outside by placing the nozzle at the end of the drain. If the water stops dripping inside and starts flowing normally outside, you have fixed the problem. In the event that water continues to drip inside, turn off the unit and place a service call.

2.2. For a central system it may be more difficult to check the drain flow. If you have a drain pump and the water is drained out, make sure the drain pump is turned on and the water flows out of the drain. If the water does not flow outside, you can 'blow it' using a 'shopvac'. In the case where the drain of the heat pump is connected to a drain of the house and you can not check the flow, turn off the device and place a service call.