Heat Pump, electric only??

[brenkco]

We have a new 38GK with a heat pump. The thermostat shows furnace or electric only. When I select electric only, the heat pump kicks on 1st, then the furnace kicks on so they are both running. Ambient temps are in the high 40's and low 50's so the heat pump should not be an issue.

I asked the dealer to check it out as I didn't think if you select 'electric only', the furnace should run too. After checking the unit out, the told me that the furnace will run to assist the heat pump until within a few degrees of the set temperature.

That seems a little off to me as 'electric only' should mean electric only, not electric and gas.

Any thoughts? Thanks,

Ken

[Oriana]

When you select heat pump (electric heat) the furnace is programmed to cut in if the difference between room temperature and requested temperature is greater than a pre-set amount. From memory this is about 10 degrees.

Reduce the temperature setting on the thermostat to a few degrees above room temperature. As the room warms up, increase the setting on the thermostat.

[atom ant]

Ken,

on Edit - as Andy says (he got there before me).

I also notice that if I go slow through the selector past furnace, the fan kicks on for prestart and it has to go through its cycle before it shuts off, even if the heat pump is running. The flames never come on, just has to do its thing to prevent build up of gas or whatever.

[brenkco]

Thanks guys! I knew there must be a work around!

Ken

[johnboytoo]

Hmmm, nice factoid I didn't know that the gas would come on automatically !

when we had just elec selected, it sure didn't seem like our furnace kicked on to help as we had it set on 70 and it never got above 60 or so --- almost froze our puutootie off

10 degrees off is cold - will have to test it this weekend !

[rcflame]

Our RL has the thermostat on the wall where the stairs go up to the bedroom. Because of where it is mounted, we have to set it about 4 degrees higher than what we actually want the living area at. Also because the air from the heat pump is cooler than the furnace the heat feels different. We originally had a heat pump in the house with an electric furnace backup. It worked basically the same as the RV. After about 20 years we replaced it and had a heat pump with a gas furnace backup. You can feel the difference in the heat coming from each one.

[travelin' texans]

Mine if you set heat pump at more than 4 degrees above room temp furnace comes on, so work temp up 3-4 at a time. Also with heat pump set if room temp drops between 5-10 degrees furnace comes on automatically, agree it gets little cool at times before furnace fires up.