How to know if a unit has heat pump
I am looking at a used unit, whose manufacturer has gone out of biz. The brochure mentions the heat pump as an option, but can't tell if this particular unit has one or not. Salesman says it says,...
Forum Discussion
janegowest wrote:
Are these considered OK? It's a Carriage Cameo, so I thought it would be a 4-season coach.....
Walls = 8
Ceiling = 16
Floor = 24
Our son had a Carriage Cameo and lived in it full time until they bought a new 5th wheel. They had a heat pump in their Cameo. It seemed to do fine in the Norfolk, VA area. AC was comparable to a standard AC unit. They hardly ever used the propane furnace. If they needed extra heat they would use a portable heater to supplement the heat pump. The Carriage Cameo is a good 4 season, full time camper.
As someone pointed out the heat from a heat pump comes out the ceiling vents. If you use the furnace, the heat comes out the floor vents. I believe that when using the furnace, the Cameo also sends some heat to the under belly to keep your tanks from freezing.
Although it is true the heat pump runs more as it gets colder, there are two reasons for this.
1. The heat loss in your camper is greater as the temperature drops. This is also true in your house.
2. The heat pump gets less heat out of the outside air as the temperature drops. Residential heat pumps are able to pull heat down to around zero degrees and still give you more heat than the energy it is consuming. #1 is the biggest factor in determining when to switch to a backup heat source. My residential heat pump can just keep ahead of the loss with the outside temperatures around 5 degrees. The reason I can do this is that I have foam insulation. Most campers usually switch to the furnace around 40 degrees.
