12/21/2022
HEATING QUESTIONS:
Hello Everyone! This post is regarding our heaters, which is on the top of everyones mind right now... I’ve seen many people asking the same questions so here ya go..
If you have a gas furnace, you dont need to worry about the outdoor unit. It only runs in the summer. A small fraction of people might have hybrid systems that use gas and a heat pump. But they are rare.. in that case, switch to gas only.
If you have a straight AC system, your only heat option is the inside electric strips. So you only have one heat option on the thermostat. And you don’t have to worry about the outdoor unit freezing
the main concern is with heat pump systems, here are some basics of how they operate... they reverse the flow of refrigerant so the outdoor unit can be used as a heater as well as an AC.. they pretty much air condition the world when you are heating inside the home.. the outdoor coil needs to be below the ambient temp outside to extract any heat, doing so, ices the coils, and reduces its ability to exchange heat. The condenser will switch itself into AC mode(defrost), which begins to warm the outside coils, and turns the outside fan off in an attempt to melt the ice. When in defrost, it sends a signal inside to turn on the electric backup heat strips to counter the cold air the condenser is making.. if its wet or you have a drip edge with no gutter, the icing problem compounds, and it becomes very hard for the unit to melt the ice. Changing the thermostat to emergency heat/E-heat does not run the outdoor unit at all, it only uses the inside electric heat. Yes E-heat is a little pricier to run, but it will cost more for the heat pump to constantly be trying to defrost, since the E-heat is on anyway, you’re essentially paying for two sources of heat, and only one is beneficial.
Moral of the story is, if you have a heat pump set to normal heat, the outdoor unit will try and run, forever, period. It will automatically turn the E-heat on if it hasn’t reached the desired temp in a specified amount of time, or in defrost mode. It will NOT automatically turn the outdoor unit off. Now there are some exceptions for people who have digital systems, those have the ability to turn off the condenser at a predetermined temperature, or some smart stats will disable the condenser if outside temps fall below a certain number.. but everyone else, should manually switch the system mode over to E-heat
YOUR CONDENSER WILL THANK YOU LATER!,,, dont forget, itll be hot soon, and there is no backup cooler, the outside unit is the only cooling source, PROTECT IT!
PS: i own a local AC shop and have my commercial A license, just so you know im credible 🤓,,,also i can answer any questions people might have