Air Conditioning, Heating and Plumbing - Advice, Discussion and Tips from ARS®/Rescue Rooter®. Welcome to the ARS/Rescue Rooter Home Connect, your online resource center for information, answers and interactive advice about air conditioning, heating, plumbing and drain maintenance. As part of our commitment to providing exceptional service, we created the ARS/Rescue Rooter Home Connect to be a useful tool with many helpful ways to find what you need.
We purchased a new heat pump to replace our old contractor model that is 12 years old. The technician suggested an additional air return be installed, which we did. We had a new installation service check performed and this winter we called to have the heating side of the system checked because we were experiencing cold spots or rooms in the house. This recent cold spell has hit the country and the house is cold. As the service technician suggested, we partially closed the registers in the smaller rooms to force more tempted air in the larger rooms and to turn our ceiling fans on low, which we did. Now the back of the house is cold and the larger room actually feels colder. We have to set the thermostat on 75 degrees F just in an attempt to warm the house. Just today, I fully opened all the registers to see if we can maintain a comfortable temperature in the house. This is a 2 year old system which has been serviced and maintained; there are no drafts or cold air coming in the doors or windows, and the house was constructed in 1995 so the insulation factor should be normal for this area. Our 12 year old contractors' model worked better than the new one. What else can be done? Something is not right with the system; the old system was not efficient but it kept the house warm; cooling was another situation. We need options.....
With weather as cold as it has been recently, a heat pump system will have to rely on the auxiliary heat to assist the heat pump to provide the necessary heat capacity. The problem with cold spots that you are describing could be caused by insufficient supplemental heat available and functioning during the cold weather. Normal sizing of supplemental heaters may have been insufficient in the cold period that we have had this year. A heat pump by design produces less heat as the temperature outside goes colder, and the auxiliary heat has to supplement the heat pump output. This has to be properly controlled by the system thermostat and additionally the supplemental heat has to be energized when the unit goes into a periodic defrosting of the outdoor coil section. A trained heat pump technician can evaluate system operation and performance and make recommendations to remedy the problem. I suggest you contact the ARS/Rescue Rooter branch in Fort Walton Beach, FL at (850) 243-1651.
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