The temp here is at 32-40 F. The snow and ice is melting fast and the relative humidity outside is 83%. This is too much moisture to run at at 32 F and it’s icing up. For some reason it’s not going into the defrost cycle or maybe it tried. I switched over to the propane boiler and I’ll let the pump sit until the ice melts and the humidity is lower.
Cold Climate Heat Pumps
- Thread starter Snagglefoot
- Start date
This is interesting.
We are near 50°F and headed to upper 50's next couple days.
Our thaw happened early this week. Very similar. BUT seems like our heat pump enjoyed it, it was loafing. Propane assist not needed. In fact a couple weeks ago in the really cold - was the most propane we burned since installation. Not alarming, just worth noting.
All the ice melted off today while the propane was heating the house. I switched back to the heat pump and all is fine. Will check in the morning.
59°F right now. Very strange.
We went from -32 F to 51 F in two weeks, an 82 degree swing. The amazing thing is both were records temperatures. The lowest and highest temps for the respective days in over 100 years.
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Do we have any HVAC experts in here?
Recent cold spell in the Carolina's. This is a first for us in a new home with heat pump only. I suspect it is normal but do want to make sure while under warranty.
Maybe someone who knows can comment. I did expect performance as posted to be very slow to warm the house. I suspect this is normal. It took a LONG time to warm the house on that cold morning at 21F
7:15 each morning our thermostat kicks up from 62 to 70 It took almost 3.5 hours to warm the house those 8 degrees.
7:20 AM Outside temperature 21F
House Temperature = 62F
Intake temperature 62F output 70F
8:20 AM Outside temperature 22F
House Temperature 65F
Intake 68F output 92F
9:30 AM Outside temperature 26F
House Temperature 67F
Intake 73F Output 98F
10:40 AM Outside temperature 36F
House temperature 70F
Intake 79F output 108F
Recent cold spell in the Carolina's. This is a first for us in a new home with heat pump only. I suspect it is normal but do want to make sure while under warranty.
Maybe someone who knows can comment. I did expect performance as posted to be very slow to warm the house. I suspect this is normal. It took a LONG time to warm the house on that cold morning at 21F
7:15 each morning our thermostat kicks up from 62 to 70 It took almost 3.5 hours to warm the house those 8 degrees.
7:20 AM Outside temperature 21F
House Temperature = 62F
Intake temperature 62F output 70F
8:20 AM Outside temperature 22F
House Temperature 65F
Intake 68F output 92F
9:30 AM Outside temperature 26F
House Temperature 67F
Intake 73F Output 98F
10:40 AM Outside temperature 36F
House temperature 70F
Intake 79F output 108F
8 degrees change is a pretty considerable heat call...the duration above seems normal to me.
Thank you, I was thinking that too. From my limited knowledge from what I understand, getting to that output of 30 degrees higher then input shows it is working correctly?
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I suspect your were at the limit of your heat pump. Was the furnace running continuously during the time you described? Up here in Canada, its common to have a back up source of heat, normally natural gas or a coil heater, built into the furnace. ie both heat pump exchanger and and either the furnace heat exchanger or heating coils. I'd say your heat pump is functioning normally.
I have a American Standard smart thermostat with an outdoor temp sensor. It decides when to call for heat and to raise the temp from 64 F to 70 F by 6:00 AM. It depends on the outside temp but its common to call for heat at 4:00 AM to achieve a 6 degree rise by 6:00 AM. If the temp was below 27 F, my propane boiler would send hot water to the separate heat exchanger within the furnace and the process would happen quicker.
I have a American Standard smart thermostat with an outdoor temp sensor. It decides when to call for heat and to raise the temp from 64 F to 70 F by 6:00 AM. It depends on the outside temp but its common to call for heat at 4:00 AM to achieve a 6 degree rise by 6:00 AM. If the temp was below 27 F, my propane boiler would send hot water to the separate heat exchanger within the furnace and the process would happen quicker.
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With heat pumps it's best to set and forget. 10 degrees is a lot even for NatGas.
Thanks, yes, our last home was gas HVAC main floor heat pump second floor. So we were used to instant heat and since heat rises only on the coldest of mornings who'll the second floor need to come on.
But when it did, if the spread was large, automatically the Aux electric coils would kick in until that differential spread was down to about 3 or 4 degrees. When it did kick in, it was fast and HOT.
I can see this house does not have "AUX" programmed into the thermostat only emergency heat by manually entering it. (and it didnt seem that hot*L*)
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Why was the house 62 degrees?
This is why in a previous thread I mentioned not swinging the temperature that far. You end up with the unit running for hours trying to catch back up. Not sure what thermostat your using but you could use the emergency heat to bring the house temp back up but obviously its more expensive to run. Most thermostats will kick the emergency heat on if the temperature difference is more than two degrees.
We like to sleep with the house cool and a nice heavy comfy comforter
Since it took so long to warm up we now set it at 65 as of last week for sleeping. Our daytime/evening temp is typically 73 but 70 at the very start of the day when we wake up.
Our last house we could turn down to 58 but with the main floor gas heat no issues warming it up, granted as time went on, that was a bit chilly and 62 has been the temperature for a decade now.
Being we are in the Carolina's there really isnt much difference between a 58 and 62 setback. Most times the house doesnt get that cold except now in Late Jan... we had a warm spell a few days back and winter sleeping at cooler temperatures forced me to turn on the A/C and set it to 70. Anyway, the new setback temp is 65F and not that bad I guess.
Used to think it was cool (no pun intended) that the heat many times wouldnt even come on at night, would coast through the night with a 10 degree set back and barely needing heat till we got up in the morning.
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Yeah, I guess it's however it's programmed? Our last house 2nd floor had a heat pump, a drastic change in temperature would turn on the electric elements and "AUX" would show up on the screen.
This one, no AUX only emergency that you manually turn on. I bet now that I think of it I can program it in.
Next time I have to test the Emergency heat, I did a while ago on a cold day, it wasnt very impressive. Not very hot, like our last home.
I wonder if this is because the newer higher seer?
It's a good thermostat, Honeywell T6 Z-wave that I also control with my phone.
Im thinking about letting our electric utility charge it to a T6 Wi-Fi, they do it for free, give you $50 and $4 off month for letting them adjust during emergency. For me, it would be a fun thing, electric Is cheap here. 10.5 cents kWr.
Too much house, too cold, not enough heat pump.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Sounds like he lets it drop way down overnight, based on his description, and was expecting the heat pump to be able to rapidly bring it back up to 72, which wasn't going to happen.
I often get to experience all 4 seasons in a single week here. We are in our 6th Fall right now, 3rd Winter is next weekend.
Correct but not sure of the word "rapidly" I was surprised to see the slow ramp up meaning if you look at my post after running for 5 minutes the intake measures 62 and out 70 and pretty much for the first close to hour air didnt seem that warm.
Exactly one hour later intake air temp was 68 and output 92 so knew we were on the right track at that point. Also the intake is 11 feet off the ground in the main living area 11 ft ceilings. So heat settles high up at first.
With that said, previous post our last home (16 year old home) 2nd floor heat pump unit had coils that would kick in if the spread was more than 2 or 3 degrees. I guess that is no more in the "green world" ? or is it simply a matter of thermostat programming which I suspect.
Anyway, my post was just to make sure someone in here with experience would confirm this as about right. The responses re-assure me as I look for every single thing and reason I can put in a warranty claim before our 1 year "bumper to bumper" no cost to fix or change anything we want on this house expires.
I do also know part of the start up time is the defrost cycle as it was 20 degrees in the morning and we are near the coast. (humidity) there was quite a bit of melted water on the condenser and still some sheets of ice on the coils. I checked my neighbors and his was the same.
So thinking it all through and the comments in here it sounds about right. No concerns, if there was even the slightest I would file a warranty service, whether a bit more freon etc.
We did have a home inspection done this week also, pretty much anything he find you hand off to the warranty dept to have them fix or correct. He said we were in better shape then most, actually seemed surprised. Worst thing he could find which he said to get corrected right away is the plumber didnt ground the propane system correctly. the wire is there I suspect he ran out of clamps *LOL* Lots of other little stuff, but no big things like broken trusses etc. He also ran the HVAC system while he was here, had temperature gauges on a couple vents.
I have to say for a production builder we have been very impressed with the smooth operation of the warranty dept. Pretty much, scan a QR code and with drop downs click on what needs service. Follow up call follows with video and that is usually it, sometimes our local warranty guy needs to check something. Not once have we been denied a claim, including tearing out and putting in a new driveway last summer. Anyway, in a few weeks they will do another walkthrough with us to see if we can find anything else wrong before warranty expires.
You can see ice on the coil. (ps that isnt rust, its mud, I went back out to check*LOL*)
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