Goodman furnace P: Compressor heating with a single stage compressor
A plain P means a heat pump is running in heating mode with a single stage compressor. The furnace burners are not lit — the heat pump is doing the work.
Applies to: Goodman GMVM97, GCVM97 and Amana AMVM97 modulating gas furnaces with a two-character display, paired with a single stage heat pump.
What it means
On a dual fuel system the heat pump provides heat down to a changeover temperature and the gas furnace takes over below it. P means the heat pump is currently heating and the furnace is running the blower for it. That distinction matters more than it looks, because a homeowner who expects to hear burners and finds the display showing P has a system working exactly as designed — the gas has not failed, it simply is not needed yet. P1 and P2 report the same thing on a two stage heat pump, low and high. A plain P means the control is set up for a single stage one.
Most common causes
- A heat pump is running in heating mode, which is normal above the changeover temperature.
- The system is configured for a single stage heat pump rather than a two stage one.
- The furnace is supplying the indoor blower for that heat pump call.
How to diagnose it
- Note whether the house is warming. If it is, the system is working.
- Note the outdoor temperature. Above the changeover point the heat pump is meant to be doing the heating.
- Air from a heat pump feels cooler than air from a gas burner even when it is heating correctly, which is a common and mistaken complaint.
- If the furnace never takes over in very cold weather, that is worth investigating — but this code is not the fault.
How to fix it
- Nothing. This is normal dual fuel operation.
- If the complaint is that the air feels cool, that is characteristic of heat pump heating rather than a fault.
- If the furnace genuinely never fires in cold weather, the changeover setting or the outdoor sensor is worth checking by a technician.
Notes
Dual fuel systems generate a lot of unnecessary service calls for exactly this reason: the equipment behaves differently from a gas-only furnace and the difference reads as a fault to anyone not expecting it.
Related
All codes for this manufacturer
Goodman and Amana furnace fault codes — every code, with what differs between models.
Models this code appears on
From the manufacturer's per-model database. If your model is not listed, this code may not exist on your board, or it may mean something different — check the model page.
What the fix costs
P is free — it is a heat pump doing the heating while gas waits its turn. The two paid scenarios: a dual fuel system whose furnace never takes over in genuinely cold weather, which is a changeover-setting or outdoor-sensor investigation starting at a $75–150 diagnostic (repair cost guide); and the avoidable one, a service call about 'cool air from the vents' that ends with no fault found, because heat pump supply air genuinely does feel cooler than burner air even when it is heating the house. Knowing that second fact before phoning is worth the price of the visit you do not book.
DIY or call a pro?
Yours: note the outdoor temperature, confirm the house is actually warming, and remember that P with rising indoor temperature is a working system. A professional's: the changeover configuration, the outdoor temperature sensor, and anything refrigerant-side. The useful homeowner observation for the technician is whether the burners ever fire in cold snaps — a dual fuel system that heats mildly-cold days fine but loses ground in deep cold, still showing P, is describing its own changeover fault, and saying so on the phone gets the right tools on the truck.
What this looks like
From the outside, this usually shows up as there is no heat but nothing looks obviously wrong — that walkthrough covers what to check in order, and when it stops being a homeowner job.