Heat Pumps and Electric Home Heating - heat strip activation
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rikmoor
12-19-05, 04:54 AM
I have a completely brand new Trane heat pump system - indoor, outdoor and ductwork. As some may have read, I have had a few problems along the way with this system. However, this question is general in nature.
At what outside temperature should the heat strips need to activate? I always thought it was something in the mid 20's but think it may also have to do with the thermostat setting. For example, last night it got into the low 30's here in coastal NC - I think 33 was the actual low. We had the thermostat set on 69. When the temp in the house dropped to 67 the system kicked on - after a while (maybe 15-20 minutes), it would still be 67 so the heat strips would kick on. This just seemed odd to me based on past performance of other heat pump systems I have had in the past.
Thanks for any info you can provide. If you need to know, I have a 3.5 ton unit on roughly 1900 sf (adding on another +/- 400 soon) and the units are Trane air handler - 2TEC3F42A and heat pump 2TWR3042.
At what outside temperature should the heat strips need to activate? I always thought it was something in the mid 20's but think it may also have to do with the thermostat setting. For example, last night it got into the low 30's here in coastal NC - I think 33 was the actual low. We had the thermostat set on 69. When the temp in the house dropped to 67 the system kicked on - after a while (maybe 15-20 minutes), it would still be 67 so the heat strips would kick on. This just seemed odd to me based on past performance of other heat pump systems I have had in the past.
Thanks for any info you can provide. If you need to know, I have a 3.5 ton unit on roughly 1900 sf (adding on another +/- 400 soon) and the units are Trane air handler - 2TEC3F42A and heat pump 2TWR3042.
KField
12-19-05, 06:51 PM
Well, with the advent of the new electronic heat pump thermostats, that question may be more difficult to answer than in the past. The older 2 stage thermostats would bring on the heat pump at one degree below the setpoint and the backup heat at one or two degrees below that. The newer thermostats have a time delay built in and some of the settings are user programmable. On the Honeywell 8000 series, the thermostat can determine what outdoor temp the heat pump should be disabled. Usually that determination is made by the heat pump but the thermostat will do it if the outdoor sensor is installed and the thermostat is programmed correctly.
Ken
Ken