Heat Pumps? When to use Emergency Heat?  

I just posted this on my Facebook today telling people they need to use the emergency heat when it's below freezing. Some technicians will say oh you're losing heat because you're taking out the heat pump which is a source of heat but people don't realize you're running two separate pieces of equipment at the same time when you could shut one off and just run the single one and have much better Heat

Thank you so much for your advice my heat pump it been working for almost 48 hours now and none stop and i saw your video and i turn it to emergency heat like you said and now its warming up the house Thank you God Bless you

My electrician being a man of experience and full of wisdom, advised me that if I was going to use a heat pump in our old house, I better invest in a secondary source of heat. That was several years ago. We had a wood heater installed just last year. It compliments our heat pump very well. Our energy cost year to date compared to the same period of time last year has dropped 25%. You can’t beat burning oak when it’s 20 degrees outside!! Thank you for the video. Very informative!!

I have a 2 1/2 ton Rheem installed last spring. Recently on a 25 degree day I was measuring 87 degrees at a register and it wasn't on aux heat. My system on aux heat uses one heat strip and 2 strips on emergency heat. The system will go into AUX heat when the heat pump can't keep within 2 degrees of the set temp. The installer advised not to use emergency heat unless the heat pump fails.

I like your videos because you have that ability to explain things simply, thoroughly and to the point many other RU-vidrs don't have. THANKS!

Thanks for you video . I was worried about running my EM heat and damaging the heat pump . You cleared up a lot of questions for me . I am currently in the deep freeze of North Texas and it is below 0* this morning . I went outside to make sure that there was no fan blade obstructions from the snow and ice and fan was working but not much if any heat coming out of the vents . So I am on EM heat now plus gas logs and it is warmer than before using the EM . Thanks again !

Excellent info! Experiencing the country wide freezing temps, and even though I wasn’t searching for heat pump advice, your video was listed in my suggestions. So happy I decided to watch. Thank you!

glad I found this. tomorrow, it will be low 1 degrees Fahrenheit tomorrow night in middle Tennessee. I put the thermostat on emergency heat.

The burning smell was my question. Thanks!

Thx for the video below freezing 🥶 temps in Texas!!!

Thanks for the info. It is a shame that the heat pump installers or manufacturer does not teach this info, but then again they want you to buy a new one and or repair your unit otherwise they don't have any business. Nothing worse than a thief!

Thank you for this video! My apartment maintenance man tried to run the okie doke on me regarding if my unit was working correctly. It was around 40 degrees here in Texas, and my heat was staying on constantly and just blowing cool air. I was trying to keep the temp inside at 76 degrees. The thermostat said Aux Heat, but the air out of the vent was still cool. So I turned on the emergency heat (not knowing what I was doing), and warm air started flowing. However, I turned it off out of fear I was causing an issue. I told my apartments something was wrong because the unit should not be blowing cool air when in normal heat mode if the temperature outside is in the 40s. The maintenance man said I should use the normal setting if I am trying to heat the apartment by several degrees, then use emergency heat if I am only trying to warm by a couple of degrees. That doesn't make sense because the normal setting doesn't raise the temperature by one degree and continuously runs. Needless to say, I am moving in a couple of weeks.

I had my 6 year old York unit serviced this fall by the same morons who installed the unit. I told them my heat pump was doing exactly as you said when it's really cold outside. They claimed they all do that and to run it anyway. I suspected they were full of sh*t, so I have been running on emergency since it's been in the teens outside the last couple of days. Your video confirmed my suspicions.....Those guys really ARE full of sh*t!!! It's working fine on emergency setting! Thanks for the valuable information.

Great video. I heat with nothing but emergency heat. (I live in the south so I guess I can get away with it.) The power bills aren't that different doing this......although I do wonder what this will do to the heat pump in the long haul.

Thank you for such a thorough and helpful video. Bless you for sharing.

Heat pumps can function well into the teens though .. our heat pump can keep up with no issues until about 10F then the auxiliary heat will start helping .. They also have a defrost cycle that prevents damage from snow / ice .. during the last storm in Arkansas the temperature dropped to -2F and the heat pump was still producing heat through the coils .. I had to remove the snow from its sides .. running costantly through a snow storm / freezing rain is actually a good thing and it should prevent the snow / ice from accumulating (within reason of course)..

So glad I found your channel! My family was about to freeze lol 🥶

Nobody told me this and my unit froze on the 22nd when the Temps dropped below -10°. I've been sitting under a heating blanket and using my oven to stay warm. I'm disabled and can't get it thawed out. I did turn it off as soon as it made a funny noise but I hope it wasn't to late. Everything out where I live is frozen so Nobody could get to me anyway. I'm staying warm enough. I'm just dreading my light bill. I pray my unit isn't messed up. I don't like to bother people with my problems. Everyone has enough of their own. I wish I'd known how to have looked you up a couple of weeks ago. Thanks for so much information. It's much appreciated!!

Great video. Thanks for posting. First winter in a new house built about 100 years ago. Just me flying solo and I can just bundle up when it's cold but this video helped me find the right settings to keep the pipes from freezing and guests comfy.

Thank you very clear video my auxiliary oil heat comes on below 40 and because the price of oil is almost $6:00 I wanted to know if I can set the outdoor sensor to 35. Your explanation was clear thank you

Had a Lennox installed last month after having a Trane for 15 years. Tuesday the compression stopped working, and we were cold for a few hours until the tech told us to use emergency heat. The Trane never stopped, nor have we had to use emergency heat before. I was told that the Lennox compressor will automatically stop in very low temperatures. I don't like the idea of using emergency heat and having a high electricity bill.

Excellent info!!

thank god i do not have to worry about emergency heat on the ge connect heat pump and mr cool hvac whole house heat pump systems!

I am listening to this and it never ceases to amaze me... I live in SW Nebraska, far from the areas I would think are ideal for a heat pump. I shut my older unit off last year at around 28 degrees. This year, after having it serviced in the fall I tried to see what it could do in a normal winter, and so far we have gone down to 9 degrees. The heat pump cycles on and off constantly, air conditioning my small house while trying to warm 'Joe Biden's Choice of HVAC appliances' (lol). Basically, at anything under 25 degrees this thing is a dumpster fire. I spent two hows carefully de-icing my heat pump today (we had 60 mph winds and blizzard conditions, so I went out to check on it. It is easier for me to run a couple space heaters and avoid the AC effects, or just turn on my propane heater. It keeps the whole living area at 68 on the lowest setting. We get down top -20 a couple of times each year. why would anyone install a heat pump as a primary heating unit?

Good job young man keep up the good work MMC from Texas

Thank you for taking time to share this information .🙏

My girlfriends apartment was seeming like it had tissue paper for insulation in this -30° storm.. when I went to see if the pilot light was even on because they vents were blowing cold air I was surprised what I saw. Turns out, she has a Goodman Air Handler and not a normal furnace. After just flipping it to emergency for five minutes our indoor temperature went up six degrees. Thank you! Landlords should really warn tenants if they go this route, especially in a state like Indiana where we get actual winters. 🤷 Hope that thing outside is okay after nearly 24hrs running in subzero temperatures.

Most heat pumps will automatically switch to aux heat if needed. No need to switch just because it’s below a certain temperature, at that point you’re just killing the efficiency of the heat pump and might as well just run a regular furnace and a straight cool unit. I have a 3.5 ton Payne ac/heat pump that chugged along all the way down to -10°F before automatically switching over to aux heat only. It would occasionally kick on the aux heat above -10 when needed. It’s listed as emergency heat for a reason not something to constantly use because it’s a little frosty outside. I would recommend to anyone to use the heat pump on regular heat setting unless it’s not maintaining temperature. Then check your unit for ice buildup and at that point switch to emergency heat and get the unit defrosted or call an HVAC tech. Maybe some units are different but I can’t imagine a unit that needs to be manually switched to EM heat at 30° or colder would be installed anywhere outside of south Florida or Coastal southern California.

I'm using a large Mitsubishi Zuba Central Heat Pump which was installed with a 5kw Aux Heat strip. While my Heat pump is rated to perform in well below freezing temps...a large concern for me is during large winter storms which may result in a power outage. Depending on how long the power is out for it is nice to know during the outage I can fire up my backup generator and switch the heating system to emergency backup heat...during this time I definitely have a tarp or two ready to wrap around the outdoor air unit to prevent snow/ice buildup. I make sure the outdoor unit is off at the breaker switch and to do a thorough inspection before switching the outdoor unit back on when power is restored.

We just had a cold spell below 0. When I came home from work I noticed my outside unit was not running. I switched my thermostat to emergency heat for a few days. After outside temps warmed up, I switched back to heat (through heat pump) and the outside unit still would not run. After turning off the thermostat for a couple hours and turning it back on the outside unit started to run again. Have you ever heard of this happening? I was getting power to my outside unit and the caps were good. The contactor was not pulling in during this time.

Good video to educate people. Heat pumps as the only source of heat suck for many climates/areas that they are installed in. I have a two story home with two, located around the Washington DC area. We regularly see temps in the mid to low 30s and even below. Right now it's 20 deg F outside this morning. Thankfully, I was able to install a pellet stove when I moved into this place and that does a good job of keeping the runtime of the heat pumps down to around 50% on the coldest of days. I need to tweak my basement air return which should reduce it even more. Our electric bill stays below $200/month this way, Otherwise, I'd expect it to be well over $300, maybe close to $400. If I can get pellets at a discounted price I'm guessing my cost is lower than heat pump alone. At normal pricing, it's probably comparable, but with wood pellets at least I have more comfort and when paired with my generator, heat during power outages. Sadly, it's going to get more and more expensive to heat our homes as the false prophets of climate doom push for more and more "green" energy. Rolling blackouts are gonna be fun too. Don't worry about them though, the elites always flourish above "the people".

I got advice from a maintenance man who was in charge of two apartment complexes. He had told me I should switch to emergency heat when it was 35° and below. Since I've done so it's been warm in the house and oddly quiet. The outside unit runs a lot less, and my electric bill is not heart attack threatening. I had the idea to run it on auxillary anyway just from luck and instinct. One day recently I put my hand up to the register in the kitchen and felt cold air coming through. I popped the thermostat on to emergency heat and put my hand up to the register again and the air was hot. To sum: the pump runs a lot less, maybe half the time than it did with emergency heat off. There isn't any growth of ice showing up all over the heat pump. Hot air comes out steadily, not sporadically hot and cold. My bill is manageable. It was $80 less than it was this time last year. Now, it could have been warmer out last year, I don't remember the temp. But that heat pump was running constantly a year ago, I do know that. And I have a Frigidaire, nothing fancy. This worked for me, anyway. I suppose it varies for every individual, I dunno. Hope it helps

FWIW, modern heat pumps can handle cold weather much, much better than they could even a decade ago. I recently replaced my gas furnace with a dual fuel heat pump, figuring I would run the heat pump down to about 35F and then switch over to gas. Nope. Heat pump has zero problems keeping up down into the 20s. It started to run a lot at about 15F but was still keeping up. So I am barely using gas now, saving a bunch of $$$. Going dual fuel instead of just gas is going to pay for itself in just a few years.

Just had our first heat pump system installed yesterday. Trying to gain knowledge about it differences to our old electric heat only system. Installer commented to switch to emergency heat below 28 degrees or it could trip a breaker which I had trouble understanding why. You brought up a good point about accumulation of ice and snow being a potential problem and I can see where that is a new item for me to be aware of.

I noticed I never have to turn on the emergency heat manually…it just does it itself. I could tell recently here in NC when the temp dropped to between single digit lows and below 25 degrees for highs for 3 days straight and my energy usage nearly tripled…the heat coming out also felt more radiant than when the heat pump normally runs

I did learn something. Appreciate that. It would have been helpful to another segment of learners had you been able to use a nest thermostat to give an example. Hopefully you will get to and answer my question though. So what I want to do on my nest is set the thermostat to use auxiliary heat when the temperature falls below 30 degrees. That can be set up on the nest. Mine came already programmed at 50 degrees. So I understand that. Not sure why it is programmed to begin at 50 degrees but it seems unnecessary when the outside temperatures will still allow the pump to heat your home without needing the auxiliary mode. If I’m right about that and I set my auxiliary heat to kick in at 30 and the temps go below that should the home get heated the same as when the auxiliary isn’t being used? The reason I’m asking is as with everyone during this really cold weather it got down to 8 degrees at my home. The auxiliary heat was being called for by my nest thermostat but it would not heat the house pretty much at all that first day. My inside temp fell to 59 and stayed there for hours. Is there something wrong with my heat pump or is that normal? I hope I was clear and you get a chance to answer. Thanks

My outside unit has accumulated lot of ice on it It is in a covered area

Such wow! If you have a PROPERLY installed heat pump, thermostat, and air handler, you shouldn't need to ever worry about these things. The Bosch unit I have has sensors installed on it so when it detects ice, it will automatically call for the heat strips to turn on, reverse the compressor and thaw itself out, also known as a hard defrost. In a normal defrost, it just reverses the compressor and uses existing indoor heat to thaw itself out, typically at the end of its cycle.

*Spittinʼ Pure Wisdom* ! Thanx! 😀

Hi Tad, It was below 30 Degrees F in New Jersey yesterday and my Heat Pump Compressor was running continuously. I switched ON Emergency Heat from my Google Nest E Thermostat. My set temperature of 72 was reached in about 30 minutes and the compressor stopped running. You mentioned that the Compressor will stop right away if I select Em Heat on the Thermostat. Is this correct? If yes, I will be using less electrical energy in Em Mode by not running the compressor than in the Normal mode when the compressor will be running along with the Aux electrical elements. I had misconceptions about Auxiliary Heat and Emergency heat being two different things. You clarified that they are the same electrical heating elements within the Air-Handling unit. I tried to understand this concept by reading tons of literature from Google Nest and other sources but could not understand. Thanks for your video which clearly explained everything that I needed to know. Brilliant!

Today I learn somthing new from you. Thank you

Just set your thermostat to shut off the the heat pump at -15 c or 5 f and set the thermostat on auto and forget about it.

here in Louisiana, it dropped to 10 degrees during this cold blast and for three days straight stayed below 32 degrees, heat pumps around here struggled to keep up with the extreme cold and it was a mess so many calls. That's why my company has recently started telling customers upfront when we they are choosing a new unit that if you pick a your heat pump, it will likely not work when it gets to 32 degrees or more and advise them to use emergency heat. But of course nobody does nor do they understand what a heat pump actually is. I don't care what you say, when it gets below freezing around here all hell breaks loose and people wondering why their heat pump can't keep up. EDIT: a lot people don't factor in wind chills/feels like temps so really even at 32 degrees your heatpump can have issues. Even the new ones we install... even though many people would disagree and think a heat pump can just fare well in extreme cold, which I would say is disproven in many cases, not all.

can you vacuum that dust off the strip ?

Hi Tad - great video. I have an Ecobee thermostat that has capability to bring in heat strips via (2) stages. My stage 1 is 12 KW and stage 2 is 24 KW. This past month has been very cold so we have used heat strips a lot but here is my problem that you may have seen. Stage 1 - provides cool air at full currents draw. Stage 2 provides warm air at fu current draw. Question - can a heat strip have fun current draw but little or no heat output? How can one check this as these heat drips are full enclosed.

Any advice on best swing setting for a heat pump?

The only thing I might add is if you turn off the outside unit and then you get ice or wet sticky snow accumulation on the fan blades you fan can self destruct from being unbalanced I saw this happen.

Its crazy how so few people know about Heat pumps in the US. I have a heat pump and its cut off is automatic at 15 degrees. Every heat pump is different some can go down to 35, some -15 some 17. So don't just take this guys word for it he's talking about this york model, some thermostat's won't even allow you to manually go into aux heat mode they will just do it automatically if your heat pump is running and the temp in the home keeps dropping. It might be 2 degrees below set point it switches to aux heat. This is why the third party smart thermostats are so nice example would be the nest thermostat. This works with heat pumps and aux heat, you can set all sorts of options to save you money. A heat pump will always produce some heat even down in the zero range but the question is will it run so long and produce too little heat to keep you comfortable. That's when aux heat kicks in. I have a Daikin VRV life system, it switched over at 15 degrees and went to back up heat which is propane.

Thank you so much. We just purchase a heat pump

Thank you! The best explanation ever! Very clear and straight to the point!

Merci! Your video is very helpful!

There's rarely a reason to run emergency heat, hence the name. However, not maintaining the system to the point the outdoor unit is full of dirt and freezes into a solid block of ice is a good reason. Otherwise, you really shouldn't ever deliberately turn off the outdoor unit. Most modern systems are still more efficient than the heat strips at -5, but they need to be maintained and kept an eye on at least a little. I see you made this video less than a week before the polar vortex, so while I completely disagree with you on when to use emergency heat, it was well timed and probably legitimately helped some people.

Very good information. Thanks Man really appreciated. Very hoppy to know this.

Extremely helpful!!!! Thank you!!!

Why be concerned with ice freezing on the heat pump when all of them go to auto defrost, thus kicks on the AC for a few minutes which is used to defrost the unit..Everything i have ever been told or read, says to use aux heat to help bring the house up to temp when the heat pump struggles. Using Aux heat is not to defrost the unit or that is not what it was initially designed for. Actually you want to discourage using aux heat unless absolutely necessary. No one wants a sky high electric bill. It's extremely inefficient and it drinks electricity.

What if the thermostat shows the option for Auxiliary and emergency heat? When the temp hits a specific temp, auxiliary. However, there is an option for emergency heat as well.

Thanks for this helpful video. 👍

Very helpful.

How about covering discharge from condenser fan discharge during cold periods ?

Finally. I’m sitting here in Nc. It’s 30 outside. Inside 58 degrees.Everyone here says don’t use your emergency heat. It’s like paying for auto insurance and being afraid to use it. I shut my heat off because the pump will run and never shut off .We wake up just because it’s so cold inside.Once the sun comes up even if it’s still freezing outside the pump starts heating up the house like toast. My question. Can I just turn on emergency heat just to get the chill out say 5 minutes? Then switch it back to normal? And when it’s on emergency heat , will the thermostat work normally turning the heat strips on and off automatically to maintain temp?

My emergency heat doesnt work :( Not sure why, trying to figure it out

The below table outlines the cost differences of normal heat pump use a=in 30 degrees F weather for one week versus one week of use in 10 degrees F weather with the emergency heat in use for 12 hours per day to keep up with demand. Cost Breakdown Normal Operation at 30 Degrees for 1 week Emergency Heat Operation at 10 Degrees for 1 week Watts per hour: 3000 watts 3000 watts + 15000 watts Hours use per day: 12 hours 24 hours + 12 hours Number of days: 7 days 7 days Total kWH: 252 kWH 252 kWH + 1260 kWH Cost per kWH: $0.13 $0.13 Total Cost per Week: $32.76 $196.56 As you can see, there is a severe increase in the cost of $163.80 per week when the emergency heat is in use in extremely cost weather. might want to consider the costs of emergency heat

Thx!

I have a goodman heat pump with natural gas back up. Any advise for that?

Great video, but we don’t have emergency/auxiliary heat installed in the air handler.. Would be nice though.

Awesome thanks for the knowledge

My HVAC person told me that it will do all of that on its own automatically I won’t have to touch anything it will Supplement with auxiliary heat on it’s own and defrost on its own

Where’s mr Ricketts at helping you with the Grade A instruction? Love heat pumps, but darn those defrost stats, ambient sensor and coil sensor!!! Lol

I had an older heat pump that my folks had put in, but it had to replaced last year and the new one is not working the same way at cold temps. I was told nothing about using emergency heat when this was put in. I have spoken to the man who put it and he has told me two different things on two different days, and I am confused. I now know when it is going to be below 0 that i need to put it on emergency heat, but this time when it was put on it, it was dropping and despite my having it put on 72 degrees it was only reading at 64 degrees. I had a local company come out and check it because the man who put it in was not answering his phone and they replaced the filter, and it came up to 68 degrees, but by the next morning it was down to 64 and it stayed that way all day. My house was very cold and until my sister brought me a space heater did the indoor temp rise. It never got up to 72 until the day it was above 20 degrees. I did not have this trouble before this cold snap came along - I do not understand why it is not working properly since the frigid weather. Does this mean there is a problem? Right now I have had it on heat pump and it took it over 2 hours to come up to the 72 setting, but it has been running since I turned it off emergency heat and I am wondering if that is correct. I just do not feel the man who put it in wants to come down and check it out. I am trying to understand this new equipment and never did my parents have to deal with this - they always had good heat from the old unit and I did until it had to be replaced. I was never told that this one would not be able to maintain heat below 0 and that it should be turned onto emergency settings...apparently it has a warranty, and I never knew about that either! I do not feel I was told what I needed to know. Can anyone help me understand?

During defrost mode , heat strips come on as well right? This is where I get confused. I’ve been hearing different purposes for them such as what you mentioned and that for emergency, they will ONLY run if the compressor fails and they are ran as a back up. But what about during defrost or supplemental (running with the compressor?) I’ve been in the trade for 7 years but never had an opportunity to install heat strips or rough them in (high voltage wires) so I’m having to research and try to learn so I don’t make a mistake once I come across it. I’ve installed heat pumps here in AZ but winters aren’t bad so there are a lot of heat pumps with out heat strips

doubt you will get this in time but what would cause my emergency heat to blow cool

I have a Honeywell thermostat on a Maytag heat pump system I was told to let the thermostat control the heat strips doing it manually could actually damage it is this true or false let the thermostat handle the emergency heat system

Thanks very helpful this video

what does it mean thermostat says heat on on status when it's off when it does it's 3 second short cycle or it's not running for 10 to 15 minutes? It just started saying that we had a 30 minute lost of power 2 days ago. I have a Lennox 2 ton heat pump handler installed 3 months ago. Also, can I use a space heater to heat my son's room since I can't get any heat on the other side of my home, air comes out of his one vent in his bedroom but it's very faint/low air and not heating his room up at all, I have all the vents opened too in the condo but the front end of the condo doesn't get any kind of heat/air.

Hey i have a Goodman single stage furnace, my question to u is my furnace run in 8min then goes off for 1min then turn back on for 8min then off, doing like this for 3times...y? Any ideas will help. Ty.

When my heat pump has been running for a while without aux heat... At what point ( as in how many minutes or hours) should I turn on or set aux. I have an Ecobee so I can set it for aux, so they run at the same time so the aux heat helps out the heat pump.

Emergency heat is designed for use in emergencies… i.e. your heat pump breaks down and you need to enlist the help of the heat strips until you can get it repaired. My in-laws tried following your advice of switching to emergency heat when below freezing and their electric bill doubled to over $400 that month while mine stayed around $200. The wind chill was hitting -20 for about a week straight and our heat pump ran like a champ in the normal setting and kept our house at 70 degrees. The manual literally says that the unit is designed to run continuously in really low temps and will automatically defrost the unit or enlist the heat coils if necessary. Please read your manual instead of listening to misinformation on RU-vid.

Should there not be an automatic switch to emergency depending if the outside temperature falls below a certain temperature that is too cold?

I timed how long my heat pump ran vs heat strips.The temp was 27-28 degrees.The heat pump ran about 20 mins to keep house at 69°.With the heat strips it ran 6-8 mins to keep my house at 69°.So which is more efficient?To me it seems like the heat strips would be even though they're pulling alot more current.

My unit automatically switches to auxiliary heat when it gets super cold and heatpump isn't cutting it. There's light on my thermostat that turns on when it switches over. There is still a switch for emergency heat, do I still need to switch it over to emergency? We just moved into a new house and I am not familiar with this system. It is a older Trane model. The heat is working no trouble keeping house warm, just don't want to damage anything out of ignorance. Thanks!

Wow I had no idea when to turn on emergency heat, I had a brand new HVAC installed three years ago and the installer never told me this. It got down to 24 last night and my unit iced up big time and I had no idea why cold air was blowing in the house, it was brrr cold in my house last night, got down to 49. But in the morning I went outside with my hot pressure washed and got rid of all the ice. Right now it's 28 and I went outside and looked and I can already see where it's starting to form ice and I'm sure it will only get thicker as it gets later in the night. I'm going to activate the emergency heat since seeing your video, can it stay on all night?

Why would a heat pump release a musty smell during a cycle? It's not the same as the burn smell when it first starts up after being off for a while. Irritates my throat.

If I was cold I'd just have this guy come over and join me. Watch that thermostat rise.

I just had a Lennox 3 ton 17 seer heat pump and air handler installed last year and it works well when the temperature is in the lower teens, I was surprised that the aux heat didn't turn on to help the heat pump when it was that cold out......But I have a question does the more coils the heat pump have the better it can pull heat from the outside air?

Thank you

Very good. This is a subject that we New England people know little about. I think we have Heat Pump-A/C's here but they handle small condos and apartments. I'd say most us view them as gimmicky for this part of the country. But I know the smell you described, as the hot water baseboard heat from our boiler will produce some of that smell when first turned on after non use during the warm weather months. It's the same smell as turning on a space heater that hasn't run in a while. I think of it as micro dusts that collected on the electric elements burning off. I found this video as a result of having stayed at my Dad's home in Florida last spring. That home has little use and at night when the temps were dropping into the mid-40F I had a concern about the switching devices in the heat pump locking up in some way, as I don't think the system has ever been used for heat. I don't know if that can happen, again I'm a Yankee, but I didn't want to possibly damage the system that worked fine for A/C. I opted to use the auxiliary heat as years before my parents had explained that it was electric and didn't involve the heat pump segment. I was surprised at how powerful the auxiliary electric unit was. I knew then I wanted to add that to the A/C handler in my home for emergency use if the boiler were to go out.

Assuming the outdoor condenser is broken as a worse case scenario, how much heat capacity does the heat strip by itself?

Very good video and some great information to know. I just moved into a rental with a heat pump and I actually just looked at my thermostat and does have the "Emergency Heat" option. One question, by running your system on Emergency Heat is this doubling or tripling your heat bill? Thank you for the tips.

For some reason when I turn the heat on during the winter it blows out cold air and I have to turn it on to emergency to heat the house. it uses way more electricity using the emergency resistance heating so im trying to figure out why its blowing cold air when the regular heat is on. I thinking it might be the reversing valve on my outdoor unit is stuck in the cold position?

I have switched to emergency heat in the past, but it did not keep up with the cold. Had to go back to regular heat. Do I not have enough heat strip capacity?. Nashville TN

Do you need emergency heat strips if it only typically freezes for a couple of hours about only 3 times a year (Florida)?

Should you lower the temp. if it still runs with the emergency heat on?

Tad, How come no mention of the defrost system on heat pumps?

What do I do if I turn on my aux heat and is not keeping up. I have the thermostat set at 69 with aux heat it’s only getting up to 65.

So is it cheaper to run your auxiliary heat more often or is it cheaper to have your normal heat running?

Is a split unit same as a heat pump?

In extremely cold temperatures my heat pump won't cycle on and off . It is set on automatic but still runs constantly and doesn't cycle and 5 degrees outside. What could be going on ? It should cycle on and off

my emergency heat works. but regular heat does not ?

What about electricity cost? Does it cost more to let the unit run for 18 hours a day or to use the emergency heat? I have my unit set to 64 currently (not other heating elements running in the house) and it has been running constantly. I do notice Aux coming on every now and then, but usually it's just running in heat mode without the Aux. You're in TN like me, so you know what the weather has been like the past few days.

What should I do if I have to keep it always cooled by it's like in a server room