The Common and Costly Faults in Heat Pump Systems

Abstract

The heat pump market has become mature in many countries. There are millions of heat pumps installed worldwide. So any improvement in the installation, operation, and maintenance of heat pump system can save a considerable amount of energy and cost, and reduce Green House Emissions to a large extent. In order to minimize the number of faults in installation and operation phases and improve the maintenance process, it is essential to obtain knowledge about the common and expensive faults which usually occur in the heat pump systems. Insurance companies and heat pump manufacturers (OEMs) are the best sources to find out the most common and costliest faults recently occurred in the heat pump systems. The present paper describes the results from a comprehensive study done on the most recent faults which were reported to both OEMs and insurance companies in Sweden. According to the results, it is essential to pay a special attention to the control and electronics in heat pump system in order to reduce the number and cost of the faults in the heat pump systems. Furthermore, the results show the importance of system thinking in any effort to minimize, detect or diagnose the faults in heat pump system.