Tempstar TX 5300 iced up

[Shelly Mc2]

I am at my parents home in Ky- it was in the 40's today, and I noticed the outdoor unit is covered with snow and ice. My dad tells me it is an issue here- others have the problem as well. I noticed the inside of the unit, including the pipes, are all covered with thick ice as well. Is this normal or should we look into 'de icing' it???

They said one day last week, the heat went off in the house, and the heating company came and cut a hole in the cold air return duct to the furnace and reset the fuse. Heat in the house is working fine at 73.

[HankG]

"Shelly Mc2" wrote in message news:80edd$54c482a1$cf3aab60$ [e-mail]...

Do you have a gas water heater in the vicinity of the furnace?

[jamesgangnc]

Yes, you have a problem. Your heat pump is supposed to detect that it is i cing up and clear it's self by running in reverse for a few minutes. It's called a defrost cycle. While it's doing that the outside fan should be of f and the inside air handler should be on resistive heat to compensate.