Derek Cole and callers explain how snow affects heat pump performance and share practical tips. Snow covering the outdoor unit blocks airflow, so clearing it helps avoid triggering expensive backup electric heat. Lowering your thermostat set-point reduces how long the heat strips run and cuts your electricity bill.
I'm excited.
This is like Christmas. This is your Super Bowl. This is your big game.
We're excited about it.
We're ready to go. We got snow chains. The guys have been trained on that, so you know, whatever it throws at us, we'll be ready.
So if it is snowing and someone has an issue with their heating system, you guys can come out in bad weather as well?
Yeah, we did it a few— it wasn't Christmas Eve— a few years ago when it snowed kind of heavy. It might have been 22nd, 23rd, and we're able to get out and take care of any problems. So it's not a challenge at all.
If your heat pump is covered with like a cap of snow, should you be wiping that off? Does it matter?
Yes, it does matter because that heat pump does actually bring in air. It heats until 0 degrees outside. There's heat in the air, so heat pump's going to try to pull the air from outside. Into the home. Now, if it is covered up and you can't get to it, the emergency heat will provide the heat inside the house.
And let's say you put your thermostat at 70. Does it matter if you put it at 68, 70, or 75? Does it make any difference at all? It's just gonna keep running constantly to try to get anything close to that.
Yeah, and we had that same call this week. A lady in Rockingham wasn't was used to having a gas unit up north, came down here to a heat pump and it was kind of running and running. She thought there was a problem, but there wasn't a problem. It was satisfying the temperature, but for it to turn off, you would have got cold. So she had her thermostat set on temperature and it was just running and running, getting her the heat she needed. So no, it's not— whatever you're comfortable at is a good temperature. Either way, with the 18 degrees, it's going to activate that backup heat.
Heat strips.
That's what I was thinking, because Dawn got up on Sunday when it was real cold and it was set at like 69, but she goes 71, 72, 73, and I said I don't think it's gonna make a difference because it was 22 out.
Right.
Does it make a difference?
It is. It's just going to activate that heat strip. Oh, it is? So it's going to run longer to get to that temperature. So the lower the thermostat Like, mine was on 69 when it was so cold, so I went into the thermostat and lowered it to 67 just to turn it off.
Okay.
Because I knew what was happening.
To turn off this strip? Yeah.
Because that will save on your electric bill.
I was fixing to take a shower and I knew I was going to be warm enough and, you know, it was just a thing I did.
What about people who put the timer thing on their thermostat? Does that help? Is that worth doing? Timer thing? You know, where you say I want it to go to drop because I'm leaving for work.
Oh, the program.
Yeah, the program.
Energy Star says yes, do it. Personally, I don't do it. Okay. So, I mean, you're talking, you know, dollars of savings probably a month. So it really depends on your personal— what you want to do.
How you want to be? You want to be comfortable or hot or cold or however?
Yeah, it's kind of like in the summertime, you know, some people are like, well, my thermostat's at 80. I'm like, no, mine's at 75 or 74. Regardless if it costs a few extra bucks, I want to be comfortable. That's exactly right.
For a dollar a day, I'm not gonna sweat in my house.
Exactly.
I'm not doing it, Derek.
Exactly. There's no reason to freeze either. There's no reason to put sweatshirts on and bundle up and just to save a few bucks.
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