Cold temperatures outside about 29 degrees unit has ice on the outside. I turned unit to emergency heat.

Unit should be going into defrost automatically if it is a heat pump OR your area has had a ice storm.

It is a General Electric Weathertron , it was in the house when I bought it. How long can I leave it in Emergency Heat in order to defrost it completely. The rain and snow has stopped and the temperature should be going up to 39 with chill factor of 33. Can I put hot water to hurry the defrosting process?

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Originally Posted by meinknoxville

It is a General Electric Weathertron , it was in the house when I bought it. How long can I leave it in Emergency Heat in order to defrost it completely. The rain and snow has stopped and the temperature should be going up to 39 with chill factor of 33. Can I put hot water to hurry up the defrosting process?

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You can leave it in emergency heat forever if you wish.

If you do the hot water thing turn off the power to the outside unit first.

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Originally Posted by hvac1000

You can leave it in emergency heat forever if you wish.

If you do the hot water thing turn off the power to the outside unit first.

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Thank you so much I will leave on Emergency Heat to see if it will defrost. I won't freeze and I would feel better not having to use the hot water in case I might jolt myself.

The emergency heat will not defrost the outside unit but it will keep you warm inside at a higher cost than the heat pump. Only when the outdoor temp goes above freezing will the outside unit defrost if not operational.