How is the heat pump supposed to work?

Question

I live in a 1996 Double wide mobile home. We have the A/C pump outside and the furnace is inside. I was just wondering does anyone know is the A/C (outside unit) only supposed to come on when the A/C is on or is it supposed to work when the heat is on too? I was thinking the furnace (inside) heat strips heat the house and the A/C unit (outside) cools it but I just wanted to make sure. My heat is working fine but the past 2 months my electric bill has been outragous!!!! We are using way more kilowatts than this time last year and it's warmer this year. The heater seems to be functioning properly though. Just thought I'd see what anyone thinks about this. Thanks for reading :-)

Answer 1

Heat pumps are Air Conditioners. In the summer the unit evaporates freon in the coil above your furnace,cooling the house,. and the outside unit cools the freon and condenses the evaporated freon gas back into a liquid form. That's why you feel heat from the outdoor unit in the summer and cool air indoors.

In heat pump mode the process is reversed, the outside unit acts as an evaporator coil and the indoor coil acts as a condensor coil.
So basically in the winter the unit draws as much heat from the ambient air as it can to transfer it into your house.
When the outdoor temp drops to a point where your heat pump just can't draw any more heat from the air(right around freezing), a secondary heat source(usually electric heating coils) will kick in to satisfy the demand from your thermostat.

Has it been exceptionally cold lately?
If your heat pump can't get anymore heat and you're running primarly on the secondary heat, that would create the higher power consumption.

Could be that your coils just need a really good cleaning.
Or your unit is low on freon.
Good air flow to transfer heat is key to the effiency of a heat pump.
There are also a few other variables that could be the culprit.

Have a reputable HVAC company in your area clean & check your unit to keep it running at it's most efficent.

Answer 2

This is coming from just a "dumb" female...USE THE HEAT PUMP. A heat pump reverses the freon in the heat stage. We also have a 1999 Double Wide 25x80 and we used the furnace last month and our bill was $157.00. I called the Trane dealer we use to do business with when we had a house and he said the energy for the furnace was almost twice that of a heat pump. So I have switched the heater off and am using the heat pump. Unless it gets down to about 20 degrees or less use the heat pump. Saves more energy. If you have a heat pump there should be an emergency heat switch on your thermostat for the furnace and normal for the heat pump. Try using it when the outside temperature is 50 degrees and see if heat is coming out...Make sure you have the thermostat on heat. If no heat comes out and the outside unit is not running with it on heat you may not have a heat pump. You may just have an A/C unit outside and no heat pump. Your thermostat should show you what you have. If you have just the A/C then you can not get heat from it. You must use the furnace inside your home. Good Luck.

Answer 3

Major question that needs more info but I will start to answer. If your home has a heat pump the outdoor unit runs for heat pumps. The indoor electric heaters are supplementary for very cold days that the hp will not keep up. Heat pumps lose capacity very fast below temps of 30 and need the electric heaters as back up/ boost/ or supplementary. Lets assume you have regular a/c and heat. Non heat pump. The outdoor unit should not operate only in heat mode. If you have a non heat pump and the outdoor unit is running, you have a stuck contactor on the outdoor unit which will cause it to be stuck on even when the therostat is off. This would cuase high bills because you are heating with heat strips while the cooling is running too. Now lets say you have a heatpump with a higher than normal bill based on past bills when using heat. If the heat pump unit outside has a problem and the electric heaters are always running to keep the house warm, then that is the problem. Electric heaters pull up tp 80 amps. Heat pump only pull approx 20 amps. A heat pump that runs and depends on the electric heat elements at the same time pulls 100 amps. My point is, get a professional to check it out. OR, you can e-mail me. We will exchange there or make a call to each other and I will walk you through troubleshooting.

Answer 4

You have either an Air Conditioner with heat strips, or a heat pump with heat strips. If it is a heat pump, the outside unit will come on. It will blow out really cold air, because it is transferring all the heat that it can get out of the cooler air. At some point, it cannot pull any more heat energy (I think at about 30 deg F) and so then only the heat strips work and the outside unit should shut off. Getting all the heat it can out of the air is less expensive than running the heat strips. They draw a lot of electricity to heat the house.

Answer 5

All of the above are correct. I have a heat pump and hate it. It doesn't save me any money. I was told that when it gets below freezing to shut it down and run it on "emergency heat". This will prevent the outside unit from coming on. The blower runs forever and and blows out cold air long after the heating unit is off. I would never have another one installed.