[Ezrollin]

I have a new Goodman with heat pump and elect. strip for back up. During the cooling cycle I think the heat strip is coming on occasionally. Do these units use the elect heat strip to help regulate the cooling temperature ?

 

[yuri]

No. It is only used when the pump cannot keep up with the heat demand of the house or during pump defrost.

Why do you think it is coming on?

 

[Ezrollin]

Occasionally if I'm under a vent get a faint odor like your get when a heat strip comes on and the air coming out feels warmer...that could be because the condenser unit has cycled off but doesn't account for the odor. I also thought I had read some where that some units use the heat to help regulate the cooling temp. but of course that seems unlikely.

 

[yuri]

Some very high end large commercial/institutional specialty units for hospitals/research labs/computer rooms have complex 2 deck heat/cool units. In one area you may need heat and another cooling. They may use elec reheat strips or coils/systems. I worked in a Convention centre and we had such equipment.

Not in resi though as it would cost to much and the homeowner would scream when he got his elec bill.

When the unit shuts off outside the fan may have a setting to run for a few minutes to extract the cold out of the coil. Should not smell. May want to get a tech to check the coil for mold. Apparently in humid areas of the US that happens and they need UV lights to prevent it.

 

[Bret86844]

What does it smell like? A toaster or like a damp basement? If the fan runs for a minute after the cooling is shut off, the moisture remaining on your cooling coil will be evaporating back into the airstream, resulting in warmer, moist air.

 

[Bret86844]

Actually I just googled it, and I found a goodman user manual referencing dehumidification (which is why you would be running the heater at the same time as cooling). What does your thermostat show when this is happening?

 

[Ezrollin]

The AC is new maybe a year old and is cooling fine. I bought the unit and installed it myself replacing the original 1997 unit. I have a maser electrical license and have taken courses in air conditioning refrig. I recently replace the original thermostat with a programmable digital model,though maybe someone had played with that but it appears to be set properly. I haven't had higher electrical bills, my bills have actually dropped because of the newer more efficient unit. I think I will do a search an see if I can find the post concerning heat strips,could be I misunderstood what was said.

 

[yuri]

If you have a elaborate thermostat that has a dehumidification feature it may turn on the heat strips and AC to just dehumidify and not cool the house down.

Not something I run into as my area is medium humid and AC not a big deal. Usually around 50% RH in Summer.

However the communicating tstats have all kinds of fancy schmancy features and programs.

 

[WyrTwister]

I have seen furnaces that have multiple circuit breakers in the unit . If yours has this , see if one goes to the heat strip ? If so , you can turn that CB off , in the summer . Or disable the heat strip by other means .

A lot of people wouls be better served with simpler tstats .

God bless
Wyr