Will turning my pool heat pump around stop it freezing up?

Question

Hi

I have a Competition RA 9Kw heat pump for my above ground pool. I turned it on for the 1st time and the evaporator on the back froze up on the back within 4 hours; it turned itself

off. Realised I hadn't *quite* followed the manufacturers instructions on placement/air flow as I had a tight space to work with. Anyway, moved things around a bit so that the

evaporator is now about 40cm away from a wall (before it was diagonal and part was only a few cm away); also cut a hole in the wall the same size as the evaporator.

Worked from 10am and was still going when I checked at 10pm, yay! So did seem to be down to the airflow.

HOWEVER! Next morning I found it was off again; evaporator has frozen up.

I could try rotating the heat pump 180 degrees so that the fan is facing the hole in the wall. Problem is that this would be a fair bit of effort as I'd have to redo some of the plumbing.

So my question is, do you think turning it around will work?

More details coming....

Answer 1

Air to air heat pump coils usually only freeze up when there is an air flow issue. Personally, whenever I installed a heat pump, I did it as far away from any structure, as possible, on all sides as well as above ( tree overhangs etc) to maximize air exchange.

In answer to your question...it's not just  your intake and exhaust, the area around that unit ought to be clear. I've seen a person install a heat pump in their cabana with venting for for the unit's air flow and still turn the cabana into a deep freeze and ice the coils.