Heat pumps work fine in freezing weather, despite losing some capacity. William Skipper explains that defrost cycles become more frequent in cold but are normal, and keeping the heat pump running reduces reliance on expensive electric heat strips.
Hey, this is Derrick Cole along with William Skipper, and welcome to the Comfort Experts. And today we're talking about heat pumps in the cold weather. We kind of hit it a few times with steam and different aspects, but the latest we've been seeing a lot of questions about are freezing temperatures and your heat pump. So William, should I turn my heat pump off when it's 32 degrees outside?
No. That is a misconception that a lot of people have is they hear people talk about heat pumps no good below freezing. Well, a heat pump still will produce heat below freezing, just not the capacity that it normally would above freezing. So the worst thing on a light bill is your electric heat strips. If you can prolong or cut back the time that you use your heat strips, why wouldn't you? If you've got a source— even though I might have a 3-ton unit and I'm below 30 degrees outside or 20 degrees and I'm putting out half of what it normally would because of the temperatures, Why would I not want to limit my heat strips coming on? But a heat pump will produce heat on those cold days. So stay away from that fairy tale of once it gets below freezing, I'm gonna turn my emergency heat on and that's all I'm gonna run. Let that heat pump run. Let it cycle those heat strips on when needed, and let's save a little bit on your utilities.
Yeah, and it's gonna— I mean, the main thing is gonna happen a lot more, it's gonna go through a defrost cycle, correct? More than if it was 45 degrees outside. And that's completely normal. I mean, you shouldn't worry about the heat pump and is it working too hard. You know, it's a heat pump, it's equipment, it's made to work.
That's right.
Uh, so there's nothing abnormal about it going into defrost and the heat strips coming on. There's— it's completely fine. You're going to be fine. So yeah, like he said, do not turn off the heat pump just because it's 30 degrees outside.
That's right.
Let us do our job, but go to 1houraircarolinas.com if you have any questions. Also, there's quite a few articles on that website you can read as well on the same subject. For more information, visit 1houraircarolinas.com. That's 1houraircarolinas.com.
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