1. Home
  2. Home Repair
  3. Heat pump problem

Heat pump problem

When I lived in Florida I had 2 different heat pumps----a Trane and later a Carrier. I was very comforable in both houses during the heating season as well as the summer. When my husband passed away I moved to South Carolina to be a bit closer to my family. The house I bought here has a heat pump but the house is quite uncomforable during the heating season. When the unit comes on it blows cold air (it feels like the air conditioner is on) As it runs the air gradually improves but it never blows warm air. it goes from cold to perhaps cool then eventually shuts off.

I have had several repair men here and they say that it is working ok. Is this how some heat pumps work? I have the thermostat set at 76 degrees and still the house is uncomfortable. My electric bill is quite high but I dont want to get sick. so I have to pay it. Should I have this unit removed (its 3 years old) and replace it with another brand or will I be wasting more money? Any suggestions please. Anne

Reply to
Anne Brennan
Loading thread data ...

Anne,

It could be too much air flow. You will not get a proper temperature rise across the indoor coil that way.

It could have too much return duct leakage, That would give you high electric bills and low supply air tewmperatures. I

t could be under insulated ducts.

It could be oversized. It would not run long enough for system to satbilize at proper operating conditions.

You may have a house with high infiltration rates or poor insulation. It would be difficult for the heat pump to overcome that.

What City do you live in or near? You may be able to get some advice from your power company.

Stretch

Reply to
Stretch

see:

formatting link

Reply to
buffalobill

Apparently you've had several incompetent repairmen. Some possibilities are, in no specific order: Excessive indoor airflow, refrigerant restriction, insufficient airflow over the condenser (outdoor) coil for any number of reasons, undercharged, overcharged, worn or damaged compressor, reversing valve bypassing, air in refrigerant system, wrong refrigerant in system, compressor stalling, undersized compressor, evaporator blowby, return air leakage, expansion device overfeeding.

Ask the next guy to explain the following, and their relevance to the problem, to you: subcooling, superheat, temperature difference across the reversing valve, indoor cfm per ton, high side and low side pressures. All of these measured after 10 minutes of runtime, except cfm because it won't change. If he can't explain to you what all of these are, then send him away. If he can't explain why each of these are important pieces of information in regards to resolving the problem, then send him away. If he can explain all of these measurements and their relevance, then he might be the one to find the real problem for you.

Richard Perry

Reply to
RP

I printed all the information you gave me. I will use this when I call a a new repairman. Anne

Reply to
Anne Brennan

If you have it set for 76 deg and it is cutting off and on it may be working ok. Place a thermometer where the air comes out. It should be around 85 deg or beter depending on how cold it is. It will not feel warm . If it is less than 80 deg you do have a problem.

Maybe moving from a normally warmer part of the country has your body fooled. While it is not all that warm many people only run the heat around

68 to 72 deg in the winter. If you are used to being in an area that is much warmer in the winter and move to a colder part of the country, you may never get warm in the winter.
Reply to
Ralph Mowery

long underwear will make it feel warmer

>
Reply to
Chub

The natural response to being greeted by a customer who has technical questions such as those, is to feel immediately as though you have a customer on your hands who isn't going to be happy no matter what. Because of this I suggest you explain first where you got the information and questions and that you were only following the suggestions offered. This will defuse him and inspire him to show me up. That could be good for you, he'll go the extra mile. If he starts off, however, with excuses, such as "You're liable to hear anything on the net", or "that guy was full of it", then that'll be your clue that he doesn't know the answers and he's a hack. HTH, and good luck. Please keep us updated. BTW, keep in mind that the list I provided isn't exhaustive, there are many other possible problems besides those listed. I only listed them to let you know that there are so many possibilities that if your repairmen didn't do some extensive checking before they left, then they either:

1) Thought you wouldn't know that they were blowing smoke 2) Were too lazy to check into the problem sufficiently 3) Didn't have a clue what they were doing.

Richard Perry

Reply to
RP

and how is she going to know if the answers are right?

Reply to
Chub

She doesn't have to. When people lie it usually shows.

Richard Perry

Reply to
RP

Ralph, you're an idiot. You think the register temp is going to be the same (85 deg) whether its -10 out or 55 deg out? Dont answer shit you dont have a clue about. You're not impressing anyone. Bubba

Reply to
Bubba

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.