If you have a heat pump or similar..

[redneck1]

Go outside and check on your outside unit every now and then when there's a storm .

A friend of mine just cost himself a big chunk of change because he didn't .
Its been freezing rain / snowing here since about 10 am
About an hour ago I got a call from my less then mechanically inclined friend panicked because his outside unit was making a terrible racket and he didn't have heat any more .

The fan on it must have had a good inch of ice built up on it , which of course threw it out of balance and pretty much shook the whole unit apart .
Ancillary to that the whole thing was packed full of snow and ice greatly reducing its efficiency before vibrating its self to death .

Check your unit every now and then ... And a little WD 40 or Pam spray on the fan blades goes a long way to helping ice not build up when you know its possible .

[jsizemore]

A rental house I look after has a heat pump located below a roof valley. Freezing rain and snow would build up on top of the unit and freeze the fan and heat exchanger. I made a simple cover that resembles the shape of a covered wagon with the ends open. I used some metal roofing and treated wood. The openings on the each end are as large as the fan exhaust on the top of the unit. I used a couple of the fan shroud screws to keep it attached with sheetmetal straps. It's been on there for years with nary a freeze up.....so far.

[rbuck351]

Mine is a geothermal heat pump and doesn't have the box outside. It has about 2000 ft of underground pipe that circulates coolant at about 50 degrees to the heat exchanger that is in the house. It works as AC in the summer.

[Petrol & Powder]

Heat pumps are very popular in the south where winter isn't normally severe; but then we have the current situation in Texas.

I hate to sound like an old guy, but.......it appears the younger generations have very limited knowledge about how things work. I would dare say that many of them don't seem to WANT to know how things work, they just expect them to work.

The advice from the OP is good advice and was once very common knowledge.

Heat pumps are good solutions in places where temps rarely drop below 35. Below that or when packed full of snow & ice, they leave a lot to be desired.

[ioon44]

When the temps get under 35 I shut off my air source heat pump's and use wood and propane back up.

[GasGuzzler]

I am in North Texas. I have a heat pump for the reasons explained above. Problem is it's -5 right now so there is no available ambient heat to exchange. My unit has a three stage furnace element that helps but by then I'm really using a lot of electricity to run the system. I have it set to 63 and it hasn't stopped running since Friday. I have no WBS or fireplace.

[Petrol & Powder]

I am in North Texas. I have a heat pump for the reasons explained above. Problem is it's -5 right now so there is no available ambient heat to exchange. My unit has a three stage furnace element that helps but by then I'm really using a lot of electricity to run the system. I have it set to 63 and it hasn't stopped running since Friday. I have no WBS or fireplace.

At least you have electricity. From what I've been reading a lot of Texan's don't have power right now.

Of course next summer when it's 105 degrees, you'll miss that -5
Well.......maybe you will not miss it, but I bet you'll remember it.

Hang in there. You folks will get a break soon.

[375supermag]

Hi...
I have a heat pump at my house here in southcentral Pennsylvania.
It actually works pretty well. When it gets below about 25°F, the emergency electric heat elements kick in.
I keep a kerosene heater to heat the living room and kitchen if the power goes out. Haven't needed to use it the last three years..
I still run it every once in a while to test it and to use up the kerosene in the tank.

[rbuck351]

My geothermal heat pump works very well below 35 and works very well at 30 below. Ground temp is about 50 degrees here and the 2000 feet of under ground pipe brings that 50 degrees into the heat exchanger in the house. In the coldest months of the year which averages around 0 my electric bill for my 3000 sq ft all electric house runs about $200. I have 2 wood stoves. The one in the kitchen is a cook stove, the heat stove is in the basement. For when the power goes out I have a 5kw gen set. The only problem with this system is the cost.

[SSGOldfart]

My geothermal heat pump works very well below 35 and works very well at 30 below. Ground temp is about 50 degrees here and the 2000 feet of under ground pipe brings that 50 degrees into the heat exchanger in the house. In the coldest months of the year which averages around 0 my electric bill for my 3000 sq ft all electric house runs about $200. I have 2 wood stoves. The one in the kitchen is a cook stove, the heat stove is in the basement. For when the power goes out I have a 5kw gen set. The only problem with this system is the cost.

And operational costs I'll be setting up a better back up this year. If your prepared you can easily survive -25/-30 in a elk camp,so why not single digits in East Texas.for a couple of days.

[Ickisrulz]

Our heat pump switches to aux (emergency) heat when outside temperatures get below freezing. I have read there isn't any heat to get out of the environment at these temperatures.

I hate heat pumps because since they normally don't blow "hot" air they make the house drafty even though they maintain the desired temperature.

[MUSTANG]

When the temps get under 35 I shut off my air source heat pump's and use wood and propane back up.

+1. This applies to both the Southern Nevada and the Montana houses.

[KMac]

At least you have electricity. From what I've been reading a lot of Texan's don't have power right now.

Of course next summer when it's 105 degrees, you'll miss that -5
Well.......maybe you will not miss it, but I bet you'll remember it.

Hang in there. You folks will get a break soon.

I am from North Texas and will take 110 degrees any day over 32 degrees, much less -5.

[.429&H110]

Here in the Sonoran desert, my snow shovel hangs where I left it. My heat pump power bill for January is $160, twice the July A/C bill. We have had two frosts so far! Now it's raining.
C'mon Algore, where's the global warming?

[country gent]

I put one of them in my new shop. The heating shop I used and I discussed it and the actual unit is inside the garage out of the weather and blowing sand and stuff, Only the cassette is in the shop up on the wall. This seemed to be a win win here as the building stays warmer than outside do to radiant heat and as said the units out of the weather. We did have to add a pan and drain under it for condensation.

Here in the fall when the farmers are running crops there is a lot of blowing leaves and dust, not to mention sand from the fields spring and fall By putting the actual unit in side the garage its out of all this.

[crappie-hunter]

My t-stat gives me the option to automatically shut down the heat pump at 35 degrees, and automatically start the oil hot water furnace.

[David2011]

At least you have electricity. From what I've been reading a lot of Texan's don't have power right now.

Of course next summer when it's 105 degrees, you'll miss that -5
Well.......maybe you will not miss it, but I bet you'll remember it.

Hang in there. You folks will get a break soon.

Among those who lost electricity we were pretty fortunate. We lost power around 3:00 AM Monday and got it back around 2:30 this morning (Tuesday). Problem is, the city water plant is down and unable to get water to 100,000 residents. It “only” got down to 15 degrees F at our house but that’s still too cold for this Gulf Coast boy. I’ve lived in cold climates; prefer sailing in a t-shirt and shorts.

And operational costs I'll be setting up a better back up this year. If your prepared you can easily survive -25/-30 in a elk camp,so why not single digits in East Texas.for a couple of days.

I’m not in East Texas but right on Galveston Bay. You have to understand that houses here are not designed for more than a few hours of light freezing temperatures. My house is heavily insulated but the water lines are in the attic as they are in virtually all homes in Gulf Coastal Texas. I lived near Longview, TX for a few years, east of Dallas. Winters are much colder there than on the coast but the water lines are still in the attic. Easier to repair but more likely to need repair.

I am from North Texas and will take 110 degrees any day over 32 degrees, much less -5.

Your 110 is our 90 degrees but, yeah. Any day.

[BJK]

Thanks for the heads up.

We're in Maine and have 2 heat pumps. So far I've used them at -10 and they worked fine. But that was just a test since '20 June was when they were installed and I wanted to see what they would do this winter. Supposedly they are efficient down to -20°F, but now when it gets to 20° and will stay there I light the woodstove.

Not checking the outside unit is just ignorant. Maybe they were older units? Ours go into auto self-defrost mode when they detect ice on the coils that make the unit less efficient. To see the melt water that pours out of the unit in that cycle is just amazing.

[bangerjim]

Only problem we have with our two heat pumps is the vines growing inside the units! No ice here in the desert SW.

I check them a few times especially during the growing season (which here is about 10 months long!)

HP's work great here where it never gets below 30 at night. I would never put one in back east or up north (where we used to live) for heating! Very little heat in 10-20°F air to "pump" out of it. They probably should work great for AC in the summer back there. They sure do here in 112F heat. We run everything (well, by the rules 75%) off the solar system on the roofs. It is nice to know between about 1.5 hours after sunrise and 1 hour before sunset, I can run the entire 2,600= SQFT house (all electric) off just solar.

[GregLaROCHE]

I’ve been considering a heat pump. I’ve been told there are hybrid units that can also run on heating oil when the temperature is low. Anyone know anything about these hybrids?