Heat pump costing me $$$

[Dawg]

I have a heat pump in my house. Even though heat pumps are supposed to be the most efficint method of heating I think mine's costing me.

I've never lived in a house with a heat pump before so I really don't know much about them, but I'm wondering if the A/C is supposed to be turned off during the winter months? Or does the heat pump rely on it? Seems like once I had it turned off and the heat pump still worked but the light bill was considerably less expensive than it is now with the A/C on.

Thanx.

[Kevcules]

Heh dawg
Not sure I understand what your saying but I have a heat pump also in my house and they are efficient. One of the ways they can be expensive, is if you have a back up electric furnace like I do, and the elements stay on when they shouldn't. The heat pump is running constantly most times, and when the weather is severe the system needs more than auxilliary heat(heat pump) and turns on (in my case) the electric element in my furnace for a short time, then back to aux and cycles back and forth untill the heat pump can solely handle the temperature outside when it's warmer then it runs by itself.(efficient heating)
You say you turned the a/c off. My thermostat is what they call a "dual stage " and you can't make the a/c come on in the winter or heat in the summer.You could leave the thermostat in one position and it would work for both seasons. Does yours have 2 lights(blue,red)? The system is totally automatic.You should have a emergency setting and aux on the thermostat, leave it on aux unless you have a problem with the unit.
One thing I didn't know is that the outdoor unit will go into a defrost mode every 45 minutes or so, and will in fact, blow cold air in the house while in this mode. This is needed to keep the unit defrosted. I am in the process of having mine replaced as the one I have is 20 years old. I hope to have one in every house I own for the cooling effect in the summer and the low power bills in the winter. I am quite pleased with it.
Kevcules

[Dawg]

Yes my t-stat does have the red and blue lights. One says aux heat and the other says emergency heat. Next to it is a switch...one side says normal and the other says emergency heat.

I keep the switch in the normal mode. The other mode is the emergency heat mode which I've been told is for if the heat pump stops working due to icing over this will defrost it.

I keep the switch in the heat mode but every so often it will stop heating and cold air will blow thru. As you've stated it does this to defrost itself. It does this more often than once every 45 minutes.

My circuit breaker on my house has two breakers.....one is for the heat and the other is for the a/c. What I was wondering is if the a/c breaker needs to be on for the heat pump to work right? Or can it be turned off? I figured if the a/c is not needed maybe it will keep my light bill down as I believe it's coming on while the heat pump is on.

[Kevcules]

Heh dawg
Sounds like we have similar systems but I haven't heard of the emergency mode, while selected ,defrosts the outdoor unit as well as heat the house , maybe it does. The only time I was told to use the emergency heat selection was if the heat pump outside was not working. Then my back up electric furnace would heat the house.($$$)
You say you have a separate breaker for your a/c. That's new to me. It shouldn't be powered up in the winter you would think. Maybe you should contact an expert for some FREE advice. Good luck!
Kevcules

[Kodiak]

The heat pump is the outside a/c unit. When running in the heat mode its just reversing which coil gets hot and which gets cold. When the system defrosts or when the heat load is too high(too cold out or set point on t-stat is much higher than actual temp in house) it will bring on aux heat. When the t-stat is set to emergency heat the heat pump is eliminated and your running only off the aux heat. If working properly you shouldnt have to do anything to defrost the unit in heating mode it should do it by itself. Im assuming the ac breaker is the heat pump and the heat breaker is your electric heat strips. The back up is electric right not gas.

[imeduc]

Kodiak has it all there for you. That AC breaker has to be on all the time for heat and cool.So the tstat can just change the 4 way valve that is out there. Also the breaker for the blower coil unit on so you have the strip heaters in there .
Now the outdoor unit can be set for how it comes on to defrost. If you unit is wired right the strip heater should come on when the unit goes into defrost so you dont get that cold air in the home. At the tstat any time the heatpump cant heat the home and the temp drops 2o the strip heaters should turn on and run till the home temp is back up the 2o.Lots of time with high bills we fine that the duct work is not right for the job and is to small. This will kick up the heat bills on you .Id ask do you change the air filter like you should every 30 to 90 days when the unit is runnung. If you want to check out fuel cost go www.warmair.net and see if the electric is best for you there

My mistakes dont define me they inform me.