how does emergency heat work on my cental unit?
November 7th, 2009 | 
Author: my heat went out on my centeal a/c and heating unit. what is the emergency heat for and how does it work?
If you have emergency heat it is usually electric coils in the duct work, just because your t-stat says eheat it doesnt me you have it
Posted in Emergency
If you have emergency heat it is usually electric coils in the duct work, just because your t-stat says eheat it doesnt me you have it
References :
The emergency heat are normally electric resistance coils in the furnace when you have a heat pump. When the temperature drops below about 35F, the amount of heat the heat pump can deliver decreases and when it can not keep the house warm, the electric coils turn on.
The thermostat should turn on the emergency heat automatically when it senses the heat pump is not producing heat. The down side of the emergency heat is it uses 3 to 4 times more electricity to heat then the heat pump does. I am attaching a link from San Diego that gives a simple explanation of how the heat pump and emergency heat works.
References :
http://www.sdge.com/forms/heatpumps.pdf