[NCpoboy]

Hello Everybody!
First post for me and I'm far from an expert on HVAC systems so bear with me as my issue may be nothing at all. It seems over the last couple of months here that my power consumption has skyrocketed. Im not home a good amount of time due to work (firefighter) so i keep my house a little lower than most only after I seen power bill go up. I had an issue with my startup capacitor back in December, replaced it, and got my system back on track or so I think. Some days my HVAC system works ok, others it doesn't. Last night was a prime example-- it literally ran all night: outside temp 23, thermo set on 64 and it could not keep up. Even today it still seemed to not be able to keep up. Is this normal or is there an underlying issue here?

My house is 832 sq ft and I keep half of its doors shut off, but not the vents. My intake is in the cooler part of the house though-maybe the issue?. I have a Goodman condenser and heat pump and a janitrol thermostat. Any help or reassurance that this is normal would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Missouri Bound]

Heat pumps (some) have electric resistance heat backup, also aux. heat. If your heat pump gets low on charge or it is extremely cold or you have a setback thermostat the auxilliary heat kicks in untl the thermostat is satisfied within a couple of degrees. I'd suspect your hp has lost some or all of it's charge and can't keep up. How did it cool this summer? If the heat pump is running constantly that could be your issue. Can you measure the temperature coming from the vents? A general rule of thumb is a 15 to 20 degree differential between the return and supply ducts.

 

[NCpoboy]

Thank you for your response! I'm not currently home, but will measure the difference as soon as I can (Monday evening) and see what the difference is. The unit seemed to cool fine over the summer. I assume checking the charge and/or recharging the system would take a repair man to do such? If not, how could I go about it? Thanks in advance!

 

[techpappy]

At 23 deg F.. I am of the understanding that not enough latent heat for heat pump to produce adequate heat therefore the auxiliary back up (which is likely electric coils), sometimes natural gas, has to kick in to provide adequate heat. This increases the electrical consumption greatly. However, it should go down substantially once temperature gets up tp about 40 deg F. and will be much much lower than other conventional heat sources would normally be.

 

[hvactech126]

with the outdoor temp at 23F the HP should run almost all the time if not none stop. The aux heat should cycle to keep the temp within a few degrees of the setpoint.

 

[Marty S.]

Home size 832 square feet , thermostat set on 64 and the low is 23. Unless your house doesn't have enough insulation and has lots of air leaks the heat pump should be able to keep up under those conditions. Make sure the filter and coils are clean.

As a comparison my 1955 built home is 1000 square feet and needs 6,000 BTU to maintain 72 when it's in the low 20's outside. The heat pump produces enough heat to maintain 72 down to 9 degrees. Gas back up is cheaper so we don't run it that hard but just wanted to see where the break off was.