I recently bought a house with two heat pumps in it, one on each side of the house. My home inspector at first thought that it had a geothermal set up, since there were copper pipes leading to the interior coil units. However we noticed that the pipes don't go into the ground, in fact they enter the two propane water heaters. When we opened up the indoor coil cabinets, we noted that there were recirculating liquid pumps on the lines, and not the usual heat coils or combustion units.
This all makes me think that this unit uses the water heaters hot water as a backup of sorts, so that when the heat pump needs a "boost" in cold weather, it draws some hot water from those tanks. I tried internet searches to see if there were any schematics or pages on these systems, but could not find any.
The reason I am interested is that my two propane water heaters have used $500 worth of propane since November. This seems like a lot of propane, since there is only one person living in the house and no other propace appliances or uses. My electrical usage last month was $200, which seemed about right for two heat pump units, or maybe even a little low since this house is over 5000 sq ft.
I am wondering if the hot water is circulating all the time, and this is why they are using too much propane to heat all the water. Anyone else ever seen a system like this?
This all makes me think that this unit uses the water heaters hot water as a backup of sorts, so that when the heat pump needs a "boost" in cold weather, it draws some hot water from those tanks. I tried internet searches to see if there were any schematics or pages on these systems, but could not find any.
The reason I am interested is that my two propane water heaters have used $500 worth of propane since November. This seems like a lot of propane, since there is only one person living in the house and no other propace appliances or uses. My electrical usage last month was $200, which seemed about right for two heat pump units, or maybe even a little low since this house is over 5000 sq ft.
I am wondering if the hot water is circulating all the time, and this is why they are using too much propane to heat all the water. Anyone else ever seen a system like this?