Heat Pumps and Electric Heating - Heat Pump won't kick on

Have a 2 year old ducane heat pump. Noticed this morning that it is not kicking on. The furnace and blower are running, and I'm getting warm air, but nothing from the heat pump. Was outside looking at it and noticed that one of the blades on had been snapped in half and fallen to the bottom of the unit. Could that cause the unit not to run? If so, is it an easy fix? There is power going to the heat pump, it just won't turn on.

I would suspect that when the blade broke it may have swung around and hit some of the refrigerant lines and knocked a hole in one and you lost the refrigerant charge and the units low pressure switch is not allowing the compressor to start. If this happened there should be evidence of a large amount of oily residue inside the casing, you may have to pull off the top to be able to get a good look. You have to pull the top anyway to replace the blade. Let us know what you find. If everything looks OK inside the case with no evidence of a refrigerant leak then we may just need a new fan blade and a new capacitor and possibly a motor but all these parts are fairly cheap if you DIY.

Thanks for the info. I'll be taking a look at it in the morning. Hope I can get parts before the holiday. Hope it's not too major. I'll respond with what I find in the AM.

Okay, just had some technichans out and here's what they told me. Said the fan blade that broke off cut the coils around the top of the unit and drained all the freon out of it. They are going to price out parts for me, but suggessted I might want to go with a new unit. Don't really like the sound of either option, but I need to get it fixed.