Part of the reason we got a woodstove this season is because our oil furnace cr@pped out and we were using a heat pump. The furnace was in the partial basement and had heated through ductwork under the house. It was a very old system. The heat pump is part of the AC system we had installed into the attic a few years ago, it has ceiling ducts and intakes. We were not keen on the electric bills or the heat pump heat. It seemed to be running all the time and using auxiliary heat more than we wanted.
So now we have the woodstove which is doing a good job, we need some work with fans and etc to get the heat elsewhere in the house, but all in all it is OK. Because we are not home during the day and etc, we don't keep the stove running 24/7 so we still need the heat pump on to keep the temps even-ish in the house.
Should the heat pump be left on set at the desired temp? Or off with just the fan on? Or several degrees less than the thermometer is reading, as long as it is warm enough for us in the house? Will it help to move the heated air around?
I just don't really get how a heat pump works I guess. With the furnace, you just set it and it comes on if the house gets cold, and that's that. This thing doesn't seem to work that way at all. The first night we had the woodstove going all night, the auxiliary heat was even coming on.
The thermostat is around the corner and down the hall, so it is quite a bit cooler than the area where the stove is. So I would think we could just set the thermo where we want it and expect it to come on whenever the woodstove is not keeping up, but it just doesn't quite seem to work that way.
So now we have the woodstove which is doing a good job, we need some work with fans and etc to get the heat elsewhere in the house, but all in all it is OK. Because we are not home during the day and etc, we don't keep the stove running 24/7 so we still need the heat pump on to keep the temps even-ish in the house.
Should the heat pump be left on set at the desired temp? Or off with just the fan on? Or several degrees less than the thermometer is reading, as long as it is warm enough for us in the house? Will it help to move the heated air around?
I just don't really get how a heat pump works I guess. With the furnace, you just set it and it comes on if the house gets cold, and that's that. This thing doesn't seem to work that way at all. The first night we had the woodstove going all night, the auxiliary heat was even coming on.
The thermostat is around the corner and down the hall, so it is quite a bit cooler than the area where the stove is. So I would think we could just set the thermo where we want it and expect it to come on whenever the woodstove is not keeping up, but it just doesn't quite seem to work that way.