Heat Pump vs Wood burning...

[cottonwoodsteve]

Second attempt to add pictures.

 

[begreen]

Don't **** those relays. You could get arrested for that LOL.

Seriously, this could be the problem, but do not do this without turning off the breakers servicing this equipment! The right hand image contactor is switching high current. Be careful!

Note that there often are two breakers for the heatpump system if the backup is with resistance heaters.

If you find you have a sticking relay, consider replacing it. Murphy's Law says it will fail at the least opportune moment.

 

[cottonwoodsteve]

The spell checker does not have a "correct word" feature. I meant RAP the relay.
Also as BeGreen says;
There are dangerous voltages and you could also fall off the roof. Make sure your life insurance is paid up to date:>)
There may be two breakers or fuse pull-outs.
Make sure everything is really OFF before you stick your fingers in this stuff.

If the relay sticks it means you should replace it. But rapping on it does two things. It gets it fixed temporarily when it is late Saturday, getting dark and below freezing. It also proves and shows where the problem is. Then on a week day, at your leisure you can order and replace the part.

 

[WhitePine]

That seems odd to me too. I'm not sure I follow exactly where you are taking the temperature for the blue line. But, when the heat pump goes into defrost, it is actually running the refrigerant (freon) in the same direction it would normally go when in the cooling mode. Which would mean the temperature you are monitoring should drop a little when the defrost cycle happens. Unless the electric heat is coming on at the same time...which is scary if your fan is not running.

I doubt a heat pump that old would have an automatic defrost that energizes itself based on outside air conditions...maybe I'm wrong. I would think, since you have your t'stat set below room temperature, nothing on the heat pump should be coming on...not even the defrost cycle.

I think something is definitely wrong, and maybe a little dangerous IF the electric heat is coming on without the fan.

The heat strips are supposed to come on during defrost mode. If they didn't, ice cold refrigerated air would be blown into the house. In my last house, I had a separate breaker for the strips. I turned them off to see how bad it would be when the unit went into defrost. I turned them right back on when I found out. :gulp:

 

[begreen]

Just razzing ya steve. I see by your avatar that you train em early. That could have been me at that age. I played with electricity a lot. Lucky for me there were fused circuits.

 

[cottonwoodsteve]

Some other heat pump related pix.

I cut access panel to get to input side of indoor condenser. It hasn't been cleaned in 30years.

Condenser left side cleaned with brush attachment on hand held vacuum.
Right side not cleaned yet.

Rubber under units to cut down vibration to house.

 

[kettensäge]

My new Trane has a 65 watt compressor heater, used to keep refrigerant from condensing inside it when not in use. No defrost cycle unless it see's too slow of a response from the thermostat while running.
After that if it is still not warming the house quickly enough the resistance heaters will kick in.
65 watts, constantly on. Manufacturer recomends leaving heat pump off after a power failure for about the same amount of time that the power was off to allow the heater to rewarm the compressor.
I usually wait an hour or so.

Lots of variation between manufacturers.

 

[lukem]

$0.11/kwh... lucky, ours is about $0.164/kwh. Its expensive. (That includes all taxes/generation/transmission/etc).

Very neat data, How did you measure amp draw of the heatpump? I cant seem to get mine to work with my kill-a-watt meter

Sorry if this gets a little off topic, I don't use a ton of electricity, but I've been paying more attention to our bill. Last month's bill was an estimated reading...and the estimate was way high...I read the meter 2 weeks into the next billing cycle and still hadn't hit their estimate yet. After the sticker shock of that bill I really looked at the details of what I'm being charged for for the first time.

My "useage" for January was 751 kWh (estimate...really closer to 500 kWh) . The first 300 was at $.0939, the last 451 was at $.0542. I'm being rewarded on a average cost basis for using more juice. That seems wrong.

Next, my "energy useage" charges were $52 but I got smacked with $38 in fees, riders, taxes, and charges.

My electric bill is about as straight-forward as federal tax code.

End rant. Carry-on.