Posted: 1/17/2009 10:01:47 AM EDT
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It is only a year old... Is there a way to do a quick fix to at least get some heat, until a real repair can be conducted?
Its 15 degrees outside and my wife is freezing! I am at work and by the time I get home it will be dark and even colder, if this is something a untrained person can do, it would be the best. Thanks–––– |
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What type of emergency heat source was installed with the Heat Pump? Usually it is electric. I had an existing gas furnace hooked up and wish I had gone with electric. There should be a setting on your heat pump for "emergency heat", switch over to that and see what happens.
Failing that go out buy 2 electric oil filled heaters. Hook them up in an interior room in the house and close the doors. That room will get very warm in about an hour. |
| have your wife look on the thermostat and seen if it has an emergency heat option if so turn that on and wait a few then turn the rest back on. I have never had any issues with mine but this what I have read in the past and it has worked. Hope it all works out for ya. |
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Here is a little background on heat pumps. They are basically like an air conditioner except they can move the heat both ways. They pull the heat from the air inside during the summer and pull the heat from the outside are in the winter. Around 40 degrees heat pumps are not very effective because there is very little heat in the outside air. They will still work and produce some heat but they will not be able to keep up with the demand. Due to that an auxilary heat source is typically installed with the heat pump. The auxilary heat kicks on when the heat pump can't get the job done. The auxilary heat can also be turned on by using the "emergency heat" setting on your thermostat.
The problem of the heat pump freezing up is fairly common but thankfully I have not had to deal with it yet. It has something to do with the component that triggers the defrost cycle. Every so often you heat pump will actually switch and draw heat out of the house to warm up the unit and defrost all the ice. It sounds like the control for that is not working. There are cheap oil filled heaters and then there are the expensive oil filled heaters. The expensive heaters are the exact same units as the cheap ones, they just put a lot of useless features on them and double the price. Walmart and Lowes will have the cheap heaters, which is what I have used for years, for under $40. |
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There are heat pumps that operate on natural gas. When I put in my heat pump it replaced a very old natural gas air conditioner that was at the house when I bought it. Natural gas is used to power the engine that drives the motor instead of using electricity. Electric heating coils are commonly used as the auxilary/emergency heat source. They are placed in your heating system and come on automatically.
In the winter when it has gotten really cold have you noticed that your heat pump isn't running but the house is still warm? If so that is when your auxillary heat has turned on. Electric heating elements are the most common; however, in my case I am using a gas furnace. For me it is pretty obvious when the auxilary heat turns on. Electric would make no noise. |
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Heat pumps suck, literally. It is nothing more than an A/C unit running in reverse. Emergency heat mode MIGHT thaw you out, good luck. Had a Lennox that would freeze solid as an igloo. Ice would be 3-4 inches thick on it. They have to go into a defrost cycle every so often, and that part kept failing on mine. After it was replaced 5-6 times, Lennox finally replaced the unit. Never ever again.
The only time I would recommend one is if you live along the Gulf coast and use heat 2-3 times a season. Damn thing runs forever, the air coming out of the vents simply is not warm at all, only 2-3 degrees more than the room air. BTW in emergency heat mode your meter is gonna turn about 3000 rpm, get ready for a helluva power bill. Heat pump = FAIL |