Even with your thickest sweater on, does your home feel colder than usual? If so, check your thermostat.
If the temperature is significantly lower than it should be, it might be time to turn on your emergency heat.
What does emergency heat do? When the outside temperature is too cold for your heat pump to keep your home warm, emergency heat is the best option. When the heat pump freezes over or becomes damaged, you should switch to emergency heat and contact an HVAC company. Heat pumps heat your home by pulling in heat from the outdoors, but they can also cool your house by releasing heat outside. Neither heat nor cold air can be generated by heat pumps. They transfer heat and cold from one place to another. To create a comfortable home temperature, heat pumps use electricity and refrigerant. The refrigerant transports heat from an indoor unit to a heat pump’s compressor. If you live in an area with milder temperatures, heat pumps are great for saving money and energy. When temperatures drop too low and emergency heat is required, you should always have a backup heating source. During cold weather, your heat pump can’t pull enough warmth from the outdoor air to heat your home. You can keep warm by using a secondary heating source, such as emergency heat. The heat pump emergency heat setting is used when the heat pump needs to take a break to prevent system damage. Furthermore, it works well to heat your home in below-freezing temperatures. The “em heat” setting on your thermostat indicates that your emergency heat is on. This mode will remain on until you turn it off manually. When your system’s emergency heat is turned on, your compressor and heat pump automatically shut off, and your electric heat strips come on. As a result, you get heat without damaging your outdoor heat pump. Emergency heat is usually electric, but it can also run on gas or oil. When you manually turn on the emergency heat on your thermostat, the system bypasses the heat pump and directly accesses the electric heat strip or the gas or oil furnace. In electric systems, your air handler becomes an electric furnace. Call your local HVAC service provider if the temperature outside reaches 40 degrees or above and your home still cannot stay warm without emergency heat. There may be a problem with your heat pump.