What is the general consensus on running emergency heat all the time or just regular heat through heat pump that still uses auxiliary? When using the heat pump for the last week it has ran almost constantly since the temp has not been above freezing. Can running the EMheat be cheaper since it actually shuts off after it gets to desired temp? I’m not well versed on this subject but my electric bill is about to be pretty high!
It depends on the source of your emergency heat. If resistance heat, depending on the age of your heat pump and the outdoor temperature, it will use 2 to 4 times as much electricity as the heat pump. Most heat pumps are configured so the emergency heat comes on if the heat pump can't keep the house within 4 degrees of the set point on the thermostat,
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What he said. Most use resistive heat strops which is not efficient.
That is partially the problem as well since it is 19year old unit. (Just bought the house last year). I’m starting to wonder if there is a setting that doesn’t shut the unit off even though it shows on the thermostat that it’s at the correct temp. It got down to -1 last night and I don’t know that it shut off once.Originally Posted by CatFan
My 10-11 year old heat pump stops generating warmth at about 27F so I have to switch to the electric emergency heat. It doesn't warm the place up any faster than the heat pump but it costs about 4 times as much to get that heat.
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I have geothermal which is basically a more efficient heat pump. When it gets really cold, I will switch over to propane heat since it won’t keep the temp up. I’ve often wondered if that is more efficient than the geo running constantly. In your situation, which I assume is electric heat strips, its going to cost more on emergency.
My four year old heat pump only switches to auxiliary heat if it’s really cold out and I bump the thermostat up by two or more degrees. Thus far, even in the mid teens, auxiliary has not come on. That being said, it does run all night but I was told it would do that during the coldest nights when it was installed.
Make sure it has the right thermostat. People swap in wifi and programmable thermostats with understanding that heat pumps have special requirements.
An older unit will struggle with cold outside temperatures. New ones are much better.
Some thermostats do have a setting to tell it not to switch to backup heat.
It's one of those things that is frustrating, but makes sense that systems are sized to struggle at the heating and cooling extremes of your area. That makes them more efficient and cheaper the other 362 days a year.
People often fork over big money to replace a system when they could get much better performance and save money by upgrading insulation, weather sealing or adding storm windows.
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my water furnace always seems to be able to keep up? never see or smell the back up grid coming on
when I had a basic, traditional heat pump and it was below 20-25, I would turn it to back up and save the compressor as it couldn't do the job anyway
Last edited by mactlman; 01-21-2024 at 06:06 PM.
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Your installer was incompetent. Had our water furnace since 2009. Emergency heat turned on once at 13 below. Get your ground loop extended by a competent installer.
If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity,
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Actually it's very efficient, about 99%, the problem is electrical energy costs considerably more than natural gas or propane. Even an 80% efficient gas furnace would cost far less to heat a house than electric heat. A heat pump doesn't create heat, it transfers existing heat, but when it gets cold you can't pull much heat out of 32 degree or under air so some form of auxillary heat is needed.
All these quoted above are true. Had my thermostat upgraded last year and there was a profound difference in performance. I also agree with insulation being a great ROI.
I grew up with no central heat and air. We burned wood or coal in one of three fireplaces in the old house for heat and opened windows (they hung on a chain) and threw a box fan in the window for “air”. I grew up next to a steel mill so when we moved to the Burbs it took me a year to adjust to no noise.
My fav is what we have now with gas heat and AC in the summer.
I’ve had several heat pumps living in the south most of my life. I hope this is my last house but I never plan on going back to central heat and air. It’s almost like owning a fish n ski bass boat.
PS I’ve lived in KY a few times. They had a lot less expensive electric bills than I have in TN. They more than made up for that deficit in taxes but, the utilities were priced good compared to TN. People with heat pumps can expect an electric bill between 3 & 500.00 next month with these temps.
BS. Electric heat is 100% efficient at the household level. But that is BS in every way. At the power plant, the efficiency is barely 50% at best. Gas heat can be 90% plus efficient. The idea that a heat pump doesn’t work at 32F is 1000% bullshit.
A modern heat pump is insanely more efficient than any gas heat source. Modern heat pumps are more than able to efficiently heat at well lower than 32F. Jump forward to 2024.
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Exactly! They do still typically use the resistive heat, very temporarily, when the system goes into defrost mode, so that you don’t briefly get cool air out of your vents. Still, it’s way cheaper than just turning on the resistive heat (emergency heat).
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I have been a licensed HVAC tech for 10 years, regularly installing and working on these systems. Of course there is 95% efficiency gas furnaces, I was just using an 80% as an example to show how much more electrical energy actually costs to do the same thing. A heat pump has always been more efficient than a gas furnace, just not always cost wise, I also never said they didn't work at 32 degrees they just don't work as well. Think about it, to pull heat out of 32 degree air the outside coil has to be colder than 32* and what happens below that temp? The coil starts to freeze which makes it go into defrost, and when it goes into defrost the auxiliary heat kicks on, the colder it gets the more that happens and the longer the heat pump has to run to keep up. I have a heat pump and when the temps get below the low 30s it I turn it off and heat with propane wall stoves, I save about $100-150 a month in the winter by doing that.
I don’t think we disagree. Read my post carefully.
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Not to derail this but I live in the northeast on the coast and its cold and windy here. I have a 1100sq/ft house with a 96% GAS furnace. My heating bill last winter with the 40% jacked rates was $450. Oct-April @72deg. And I have 3 dogs that are in and out probably 30x's a day. My neighbor has the same house, 68deg w/ one of those new heat pumps.....$1600/winter in electricity. Nothing beats gas!
My Daughter has a newer heat pump in her house in KY. We have gas heat here. I freeze at her house with that heat pump compared to gas heat.
You understand the concept of thermostat setting, right?
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