Hi,
I figure no one really knows the answer for sure, but I can't resist asking anyway!
If you want to avoid reading the entire post, the basic question is whether leaving a heat pump off completely and letting it get covered in snow and ice for a few days would hurt it. My assumption is that it would not.
I'm trying to maximize the life of my 20 year old heat pump. It is working fine right now. I haven't had a tech touch it since it was installed.
I have had it running this winter, normally, except that I keep the house pretty cold, around 52 degrees day and night (You get used to it!)
And that's during days and nights that are about 30 something in the day and 20 something at night (pretty mild).
But nighttime lows are going to be around zero for a few days in the near future, along with rain, ice and snow. Snow could be about 8 inches, not too bad. But if there is enough rain, I could get water pooling at the bottom of the heat pump slab, maybe rising up into the fins and coils of the unit too, and maybe freezing, who knows. (I usually do get the classic big blob of ice around the compressor each winter and it doesn't seem to hurt anything).
So, I'll get to the point: Will having my heat pump off and letting the snow and ice and rain do whatever it wants to do, result in harm to my heat pump?
I don't want to be going out at 2 AM in zero degree weather cleaning snow and ice off, or bailing water away from it (it is in a sunken area that pools with water during heavy rain) and my hope was that I could just leave the heat pump turned off, let nature do its thing, then let it melt away later, or pour water over it to help it melt later, whatever.
I would be heating my house with kerosene and/or a plug-in oil filled electric radiator. I'm not real concerned with the cost of the kerosene or the electricity, but very concerned about preserving the life of my heat pump. And if I left it on it would be running non stop for a few days, I think, if temps are down around zero.
I'm wondering if water would seep into the inner workings of the heat pump, or just being so cold for so long, and not going through its usual cycles would hurt it somehow.
Sorry for such a belabored post.
Thanks