Problems with New Heat Pump
#1
04-05-06, 06:27 PM
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 2
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes
on
0 Posts
Problems with New Heat Pump
I just replaced a 20 year old GE heat pump and coil with a brand new Trane XL-14i heat pump and coil. It's about a week or so old and I live in the Boston area. I'm not a DIY type so I had it installed by a reputable local dealer. I'll be calling them in the morning about this. It may be just my misunderstanding of the way this thing works. Here are the symptoms:
The temp outside is about 30 degrees. Inside temp when the pump comes on may be about 65 for example. The thermostat is set to 69 at 6am. This morning the pump came on at about 4:30 am and the inside temp was about 66. I left at 7 am and the pump had reached only 67 in the 2.5 hours that the unit was on and it was on constantly. It kept switching between Heat and Aux Heat.
It's set to 69 at 6pm also. I came in at 6pm and the place was at 67 and the pump was on. It reached 69 at about 7:30, then kept going down and up..the pump stayed on constantly. I tried setting it to Emerg Heat but this does not affect the operation. I would have thought it would keep the Aux Heat on constantly but it did not. I increased the thermostat to 70 just to get a bit more heat and it did increase the temp eventually to 70 with the Emerg Heat setting on...but again, switching constantly between Heat and Aux Heat all the time.
It is now 9:30 pm and the unit has not ever shut off. It is maintaining 70 degrees but it's on ALL THE TIME.
My old unit never operated like this and it seemed more efficient in that it did turn off from time to time, especially when the temp outside is in the 30's..not that cold for this area of the country.
Is this "normal" operation?
Thank you.
The temp outside is about 30 degrees. Inside temp when the pump comes on may be about 65 for example. The thermostat is set to 69 at 6am. This morning the pump came on at about 4:30 am and the inside temp was about 66. I left at 7 am and the pump had reached only 67 in the 2.5 hours that the unit was on and it was on constantly. It kept switching between Heat and Aux Heat.
It's set to 69 at 6pm also. I came in at 6pm and the place was at 67 and the pump was on. It reached 69 at about 7:30, then kept going down and up..the pump stayed on constantly. I tried setting it to Emerg Heat but this does not affect the operation. I would have thought it would keep the Aux Heat on constantly but it did not. I increased the thermostat to 70 just to get a bit more heat and it did increase the temp eventually to 70 with the Emerg Heat setting on...but again, switching constantly between Heat and Aux Heat all the time.
It is now 9:30 pm and the unit has not ever shut off. It is maintaining 70 degrees but it's on ALL THE TIME.
My old unit never operated like this and it seemed more efficient in that it did turn off from time to time, especially when the temp outside is in the 30's..not that cold for this area of the country.
Is this "normal" operation?
Thank you.
#2
04-06-06, 08:15 PM
Member
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: race city, usa, mooresville
Posts: 429
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes
on
0 Posts
no, call the people out, i'm not going to suggest anything that may hurt the warranty. let us know what happens,
barry
barry
#3
04-07-06, 04:57 AM
Member
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Southeast USA
Posts: 1,034
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes
on
0 Posts
Jim DeLuco
First, I will make assumption that your new system has been sized correctly-what mdl air handler did you purchase-var speed?
The XL14i HP is a workhorse. At 30 deg outside temp, your HP should easily handle your thermostat setpoint in regular heat mode without aux heat.
My first thought is unit was not charged correctly. Did you get R-22 or R-410a unit?
Post back with findings from installing dealer.
Good LucK!
First, I will make assumption that your new system has been sized correctly-what mdl air handler did you purchase-var speed?
The XL14i HP is a workhorse. At 30 deg outside temp, your HP should easily handle your thermostat setpoint in regular heat mode without aux heat.
My first thought is unit was not charged correctly. Did you get R-22 or R-410a unit?
Post back with findings from installing dealer.
Good LucK!
#4
04-07-06, 03:39 PM
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 2
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes
on
0 Posts
Possibly the Thermostat
They came over this morning...very responsive contractor. I believe it's the thermostat. It was set to Adaptive Intelligent Recovery, which "learns" as it goes and if you set the temp for a time of day, it will come on in advance of that time so that the room is that temp by that time. I'm sure you're all familiar with this feature. The last thermostat had that feature and I turned it off because it never seemed to be very efficient...coming on too soon and running cooler for a longer period of time.
Anyway we turned that off. They also recharged the system although the heat coming thru the heat pump pipe was very hot when they tested it.
The test will be the colder weather but right now the temp outside is 50-ish. We'll see how it goes. I'm convinced that it's not the heat pump but more than likely the thermostat operation. I think it will be better without the AIR on. If this does not help, then he can give me another more basic thermostat but Trane recommends this one and gives a longer warranty when you use this themostat because it treats the system better and supposedly runs more efficiently.
We shall see. Thank's for the support.
Anyone running successfully in A.I.R. mode?
Anyway we turned that off. They also recharged the system although the heat coming thru the heat pump pipe was very hot when they tested it.
The test will be the colder weather but right now the temp outside is 50-ish. We'll see how it goes. I'm convinced that it's not the heat pump but more than likely the thermostat operation. I think it will be better without the AIR on. If this does not help, then he can give me another more basic thermostat but Trane recommends this one and gives a longer warranty when you use this themostat because it treats the system better and supposedly runs more efficiently.
We shall see. Thank's for the support.
Anyone running successfully in A.I.R. mode?
