Air Conditioning - How to disable heat pump?

I have a 2 ton Rheem AC with heat pump. Cooling cycle is okay but the heat pump cycle is generating too high a pressure on the HIGH side. The technician told me not to use the heat pump, and use straight electrical heating. That sounded like an easy thing to do. Okay., I said. (He said the copper tubing was a little too small in diameter for the heat pump cycle.)

Now I need to sell the house. I would rather disable the heat pump and tell the buyer that it is a straight AC unit. I do not want him to use the heat pump cycle acidentally and damage the compressor (and blame me later).

Is it easy to disable the heat pump? Thank you for your help in advance.

The explanation you got from your repairman was bogus. High head pressure in heat mode is caused by low indoor air flow from a dirty coil or air filter. It also could be caused by a bad expansion valve in the outdoor unit. The last Rheem unit I worked on had that same problem. I replaced the expansion valve for heat mode and they are fine. I also don't think it is a great idea to hide a defect from your buyer. If he knows the heat pump doesn't work, just tell him to use the emerg ht setting for heat. If he doesn't know the heat pump is broken, just tell him now and avoid the non-disclosure complaint later.

Ken

Pay someone else to come out and check the system out. It's probably got too much refrigerant in it, or like said a dirty coil and or filter.

Im with them . Find a tech that knows what he is doing and fix it now. This way it wont come back on you.

ED ;)

Thanks for the replies. I will call someone to come out and check it out for me.

By the way, it was a new system for the upstairs, new compressor, new condenser, new evaporator, new electrical heating strip. I just kept the old 1/2 tubing. The technician said 5/8 (or 3/4?) would be ideal but 1/2 would do it. Pulling the old 1/2 out and putting a new one in would cost additional $500. Not only that, the new tubing would have to come through attic and increase total length, according to the technician. That's why I kept the old 1/2 tubing.

From the beginning, the reverse (heat pump) caused higher pressure than the cooling cycle. The technician said as if it was supposed to be so (for 1/2 tubing). Do you think I got a faulty unit?

i think you have a faulty technician

i am sure it worked at some point, line size probably is not the problem

house is worth more with a heat pump than electrical heat

i agree with Kfield, airflow or txv problem

Thank you for the replies. I really appreciate them.

Now I remember how he explained it to me. In the normal cooling cycle, the hot fluid loses heat at the condenser. But in the heat pump cycle, heat is lost at the evaporator. Condenser is larger than evaporator. Also, condenser is right next to the compressor whereas evaporator is all the way up on the second floor. That is why heat pump cycle generates a higher pressure. Had the tubing been 5/8 instead of 1/2, it would have helped. Does this explanation make sense to you?

The AC was installed toward the end of summer. So I got plenty cooling then. During winter, heat pump worked fine, too. In the following summer, the cooling was less than sufficient. I called the technicial who installed the system. He said he left the freon less than max cooling because of the pressure difference (as explained above). I preferred max cooling in the summer (Florida summer). So he added a little more freon for max cooling and cautioned me not to use the heat pump. That was a couple summers ago. I have not added freon since then.

As far as I remember, the high pressure during heat pump cycle was not dangerously high. It was not high enough to trigger safety switch. He said it would affect the life of the compressor though since it was right at the upper limit (like 300 psi? I am not sure of the number.)

Thanks for helping me out on this one.

300 psi not hard on the compressor. Its the start and stop that is hard on them. Keep the filter and coils clean. Down here in florida a heatpump dont pay. Go for a high Seer on the AC with back up electric heat put the rest of the money in the bank.

ED ;)

coils may not be matched properly. if it is a fixed orifice you can change the piston size.

what is model # of inside and outside units?

Indoor: RBHA-14J06NFDAI
Out: RPKA-025JAZ

Thank you for checking it for me.

PS: It was installed in 2001. The same units are installed for the first floor a year earlier. It has been working fine. No problem.

By the way, had the technician not explained it, I would have never noticed anything wrong since heat pump still works for the upstairs unit. I just haven't used it.

PS: The air handler unit manual shows "-14" matching with "-018" or "-024" outdoor unit.

PS: I fiinally found the record. The existing tubing is 5/8". Technician said 3/4" would have been better.