Heat pump working at 28 degrees ambient
I did an experiment with my heat pump tonight. Wanted to see at what temp it would switch to the furnace. It is down to 28 right now and the heat pump is still running blowing 104 degrees out the vent...
Forum Discussion
Daboo wrote:
does any manufacturer of RVs make an "electric" heater...why screw with a heat pump when they could have put a heating element in the unit and made a true heater..I don't like our heat pump (in Winnebago) just seemed like it didn't work from the git go...
They do make "Heat Strips" and have for over 40 years that are installed by the evaporator. BUT, they only have about 5600 btu's of heat energy. That is NOT enough heat when it is freezing outside. The Heat Pump will have the same BTU AS ITS AC RATING (13.5 or 15k). The PLAIN fact is simple, there is NOT enough heat energy to extract heat when it is below 32 degrees and it makes the HP work hard to heat. Home (residential) systems have a 240 volt heat coil emergency override system to heat when the outside temps drop below 26 to 32 degrees, as the HP CANNOT do a efficient job of heating a house in sub 32 degree temps. Heat pumps are designed for the 35 degree plus temps, not for freezing temps, which is why they have the Furnace system override. Doug
