Roof Over Heat Pump

The heat pump requires lots of air to work well.

Roof over heat pump.

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. 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. We have never had snow inside ours.

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. We have lots of heat pumps in our general area and have only seen one heat pump with a roof over it. The heat pump is right off the back porch and deck. Keeps direct sunlight off during cooling season.

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. You need to keep snow away from it sides and top. This structure just happened to be beside the heat pump. Keeps snow away from the top and sides where it would impede.

My heat pump is on the north side of my home in arizona and i have a 3 foot roof overhang. What is the rule. I would like to put a roof flat and opened on all four sides over it to cut down on the noise it makes. No freezing rain can put the blower out of balance with lopsided icing.

Clearance distances for outdoor hvac compressor condenser units. Is this a good idea. The outdoor unit of the mitsubishi heat pump system can freeze up in the winter or become bound up with snow. And we built a roof over the unit to shed most of the rain and snow.

So it can work if you position your unit with energy conservation in mind. Keeps rain leaves twigs and branches further away and keeps the unit cleaner. Structure was about 3 feet wide. 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.

There are several advantages to having a permanent roof over an outdoor heat pump.