Heat Pumps and Electric Heating - Basic heat pump question. Warning: answer may open pandora's box! :)

All righty, I'll try to not make this be the longest post -ever- :)

My house has 2 heat pumps. Last year one of the motors went out in late summer. I replaced the motor myself and got thru the winter just hunky dory, although I am not sure if it is because I have two and the heat from the other one circulated thru the whole house. At this point, though, I am starting to wonder if maybe I had/have multiple problems. The motor was definitely, definitely bad though. :)

Now, it is summer in Phoenix. One side of my house has plenty of cold air. The other side, with the motor I replaced last year, is, well, HOT. This side of the house (the not-working side) has 2 separate air filter spots. In the hallway, which is closest to the working side of the house, it is fairly cool. However, in the master bedroom, it is unbearably hot. Air seems to be coming out of the vents however I can't say it is ice-cold. On the other hand, it doesn't seem to be HOT air, but I have read that on heat the air will still feel a little cool coming out. I am not sure if there are 2 blower units on the non-working side of the house, or even one, because to be honest, I am not a heat pump expert... hence my post here.

Continuing on. What I do know is that I have two units going. The working side of the house... when I put my hand over the heat pump outside, I can feel the motor blowing out the hot air. It is warm coming out. The other unit, attached to the unbearably hot side of the house... well, it feels cool blowing out the top of the unit. So, in a nutshell, that is my question: if everything is set to be cooling, is it just plain wrong that cool air should be blowing out of the top?

I changed out my thermostat on the bad side of the house this evening. Cool air is still coming out. I have felt numerous copper pipes attached to both units outside and I can't really detect anything different between them. I suppose the real test will be tomorrow when it's 115 and I will find out if my cooling is really working. My house seems to be getting cooled off now but... the temperature has dropped about 20 degrees since earlier today, so I have to say that now is not the best time to make judgements. However, it seems just plain ODD that one unit is blowing out cool air out the top and the other one, hot air. I have searched the internet high and low and am not seeing anything obvious.

I humbly ask for advice. Or a pointer. I have not gone out and cleaned off my coils or anything, because to be honest, I didn't know I even had them until a few hours ago. If things aren't working, is that my next step?

As for the blower thing. Do I have a blower in my ceiling? Or does the heat pump do all that work for me? Maybe the blower in my master is not working and the hallway/2nd bedroom one is working... if they exist. (I have 12 foot ceilings and I am 5'2", so, I'd like to hear if anyone thinks it's a possibility before I attempt acrobatics not seen since gym class in 8th grade.)

I am hoping the new tstat is the trick since it's forecasted to be 117 here on the 4th of july, but I am still concerned about the cool/hot air thing on the heat pumps.

I'm so wordy. Sorry :) Thanks in advance for any shred of advice, robyn

Real quick,
Line Set - if you feel no difference between the two line sets you either have a compressor that is not running or refrigerant that is more than 3 lbs low which would mean you have a leak in your system that should be repaired.

Wordy is very good here. The more info you provide helps our wheels turn in the right direction.

I agree with Dave in that you have a leak. In heat mode a shortage of refrigerant is less noticable than in a/c mode.

I think the fact that you changed the fan motor a seperate (non) issue.

You should feel warm/hot air blowing from the outside unit as it is condensing hot high pressure gas to warm high pressure liquid.

As Dave said your probably about 3 pounds low. You may have hit the 2 pounds or so freezing coil point in the winter and the defrost control took care of it. Freezing coil in a/c mode means the inside coil (evaporator) becomes a block of ice.

So, all that said, I think your low on charge. Which of course means a leak somewhere. Time to call a tech and have the leak found and repaired.

Again, wordy is good. The more words, the more info, the less questions have to be asked to put ourselves at your unit and figure it out.

Okay. I have ventured back outside to make sure that I wasn't crazy when feeling the copper pipes at 1am. :)

On my working unit, there is definitely a distinct difference. The large one is cold and the small one is fairly hot.

On my non-working unit, the large pipe is somewhat cold, and the small one is somewhat warm, but the difference is nowhere as distinct.

Now, I did replace my thermostat last night, with a hunky dory Hunter something-or-other that I probably unnecessarily wasted money on. :) Previously the unit outside had been blowing distinctly cold air out the top. Now, it is warmer, but not quite as warm as my working unit, but pretty darn close. Does this mean anything??? I'm assuming it doesn't take a while for a unit to kind of get itself back in order after getting a new thermostat. Or does it?

While outside, I noticed that my non-worker heat pump buddy is... well... not vibrating, perhaps "whirring" is a good word. It makes the normal fan noises (just a nice pleasant hum" but about once a second it seems like it is... well, i'm not sure how to describe it. Pulsating slightly louder. Hummmmm... Hummmm... Hummmmm. I could practically be dr. seuss.

So is this pointing more to the leak or is the pulsating noise possibly anything?

Does anyone think I need to attempt cleaning my coils for any reason or just head... straight for the leak and the phone? :)

It is pointing to being a leak with your system being low on freon since you can feel a slight difference in temp of the 2 copper lines.

A low freon system can over heat the compressor because the freon also cools the compressor on the outside unit.

your thermostat I believe was a waste of money if you bought it to solve this problem.

It's probably time for the call to the A/C company.

ClassicDave nails the nail on the head about everytime.

While outside, I noticed that my non-worker heat pump buddy is... well... not vibrating, perhaps "whirring" is a good word. It makes the normal fan noises (just a nice pleasant hum" but about once a second it seems like it is... well, i'm not sure how to describe it. Pulsating slightly louder. Hummmmm... Hummmm... Hummmmm. I could practically be dr. seuss.

You sure you dont hear the compressor go on and off??? Can be if low on freon
and it over heats. Id turn that AC off till a tech get there