Replies

1. 
   monkeyman9 | Feb 10, 2025 09:50pm | #1

   It's funny you post that. I've never had a problem until this year either. It's the two of mine that are on the North side. The one on the west side doesn't have a problem. Ice is building up at the back bottom of the heat exchanger as well. When it defrosts, if its loose, I'll try to get some of the chunks out carefully. But the condensate is really building up on the ground underneath. Luckily we don't walk anywhere near there. A handful of calcium chloride on it everyday doesn't fix it?

1. 
   TomKzz | Feb 11, 2025 09:46am | #2

   Thanks for the comment, that's interesting to hear. For how many winters have you had your heat pumps?

   I don't really want to use road salt since it's not a great environmental choice.

   I'm actually thinking of setting up a drain hose or pipe from the bottom of the unit to the inside of the house where it can drain into a house drain. It would be good to hear from those more experienced if this is actually a best practice and how best to do it.

1. 
   monkeyman9 | Feb 11, 2025 10:23am | #3

   8, 6 and 3 years for the 3 units. What you have is more ice underneath than me though. What bout something like a horse feed big underneath that you can remove every few days and dump ice out of?

2. 
   gusfhb | Feb 11, 2025 11:35am | #4

   My Garage heat pump sits just off the drip line of my roof.
   I built a little roof over it to see if it would minimize the heat-pump berg
   Seems to so far

3. 
   mgensler | Feb 11, 2025 12:59pm | #5

   Lots of ice here as well in our 4th winter with heat pumps. We had to raise two of them higher from the ground this year from where our installer put them originally.

   Some thoughts: relocate the unit, dig a pit with a little gravel or maybe a deep drain at the bottom, remove some of the concrete so the water can be absorbed by the earth more easily

   I suppose piping it in to the house might work but I'd think you'd want to wrap heat tape on pipe. Probably not optimal and I wouldn't trust the fitting at the bottom of the pan to not freeze

1. 
   TomKzz | Feb 19, 2025 01:47pm | #6

   Thank you. I am now leaning towards the "digging a pit with gravel" solution. I wonder how deep it should be and what materials I should use. Would it make sense to line the pit with landscaping fabric before dropping in the gravel? How to ensure the water moves away from the house and doesn't migrate to the house's foundation?

   The ice berg is growing... I've had to take a chisel and hammer to it already twice. Looks like I'll need to do it again soon.