We are into the second season of our new wood stove insert use and I am wondering if it may be costing us more money than we are saving.
We have a 4,000 sq. ft. house heated by two electric heat pumps with an electric coil backup. In a typical operation, when the outside temperature goes low enough, the heat pump cannot produce much heat. So the thermostat is set to switch to auxiliary backup when the house temperature falls predetermined number of degrees below to the temperature set on the thermostat.
Now imagine that I am also burning wood in my wood stove. The supplementary heat from wood stove adds to the home temperature, potentially eliminating the said temperature shortfall. So the heat pump, and not the auxiliary, continues to operate. Since there is no heat to be extracted from the air, the heat pump should fail to supplement. In addition, I am assuming that it would be running continuously, thus the extra cost. I guess at a later point, the wood stove should fail to supplement sufficiently, the temperature should drop further, and the thermostat should kick on the auxiliary. Depending on the outside temperature, BTUs of my wood stove, and the location of the thermostat the parts of this cycle will vary in duration. However, it seems that the problem should remain.
Q1: Am I correct that the above is indeed what is happening and is indeed a problem?
Q2: Has anyone thought about this and figured out a solution?
Q3: The best that I could come up with so far is to move the thermostat further away from the stove and then set it to auxiliary heat when the temperature falls below freezing. Does this make any sense?
Thank for your help ahead of time!
We have a 4,000 sq. ft. house heated by two electric heat pumps with an electric coil backup. In a typical operation, when the outside temperature goes low enough, the heat pump cannot produce much heat. So the thermostat is set to switch to auxiliary backup when the house temperature falls predetermined number of degrees below to the temperature set on the thermostat.
Now imagine that I am also burning wood in my wood stove. The supplementary heat from wood stove adds to the home temperature, potentially eliminating the said temperature shortfall. So the heat pump, and not the auxiliary, continues to operate. Since there is no heat to be extracted from the air, the heat pump should fail to supplement. In addition, I am assuming that it would be running continuously, thus the extra cost. I guess at a later point, the wood stove should fail to supplement sufficiently, the temperature should drop further, and the thermostat should kick on the auxiliary. Depending on the outside temperature, BTUs of my wood stove, and the location of the thermostat the parts of this cycle will vary in duration. However, it seems that the problem should remain.
Q1: Am I correct that the above is indeed what is happening and is indeed a problem?
Q2: Has anyone thought about this and figured out a solution?
Q3: The best that I could come up with so far is to move the thermostat further away from the stove and then set it to auxiliary heat when the temperature falls below freezing. Does this make any sense?
Thank for your help ahead of time!
