Too much emergency heat???

[garrett_reukauf]

I have a Nordyne E3EB-015H heat pump/elec furnace. The inside coils are Nordyne C5DA-T30UB. The outside unit is a Medallion, not sure of the model. This is a brand new setup and has not even been in use for a month. My question or concern is the "emergency heat" mode. I keep the thermo set on 70 degrees, dont move it up and dont move it down. We live in Eastern Tennessee, it gets cold here but not real cold. Last night it was down in the mid 20's I think. (I'm originally from North Dakota so this is still short wearing weather to me HAHA!)
Anyhow, I have noticed that the red light on my thermo comes on quite frequently, indicating that the emergency heat is on as well. I have the "mode" set to HEAT and the fan is set to AUTO. I read in the book that came with thermo control that it will sometimes switch to Emer Heat mode on its own when needed, to defrost and bring the temp up quickly. Is it normal for the Emer Heat to come on frequently like this, or might there be something wrong with my HVAC unit? I am just worried about my elec bill running up since they are elec heating elements. I dont know hardly anything about Heating and Air units. So i would appreciate any feedback. Thanks and have a great day!
Garrett

[Mark]

Garrett,

My apologies for the previous rude replies. So let's start over.

I believe you are basically just trying to understand how a heat pump works. At first my answer was going to be look in your manual, but I looked in one of the manuals I have and it doesn't say a whole lot about when the emergency heater is suppose to kick on.

For the most part, heat pumps are only efficient when outdoor temps are 45 degrees or above. Once the temps drop below that, they lose their efficiency and may require emergency heat to maintain the temperature in your house. In your post you said temps got down to 20 degrees. In that case, I bet most all your heat was from the emergency heat coils and not the heat pump.

Where I live in South Dakota, we don't use heat pumps much as our winters are too cold for them to do any good. So if your having a cold winter, then the heat pump may not do you a whole lot of good either, unless your daytime temps get up in the 40's.

This link is a simple explanation to what I just mentioned above: http://home.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tr ... t-pump.htm

Mark

[garrett_reukauf]

Thanks Mark, after reading what you wrote and the stuff contain in the link you provided it appears it is operating like normal, just been a lil colder the past few days so its affecting it differently. The emer heat dont come on with every cycle, probably about every 3 or 4 cycles, but like I said it has been colder the last 2 days, 20f yesterday. Thanks again for the info, and keep up the great site here. Do you still have the montly newsletters? I read some of the previous years' newsletter and enjoyed some of the "Repairman stories" that were told.

[Mark]

We've stopped the newsletters for now due to lack of time. But I've got a doozy of a repairman story happening this week, so when it ends (hopefully tomorrow), I'll be sure to post the story.

Mark

[garrett_reukauf]

Will keep my eyes open....