ac & heating help needed

[pmitch003]

Last night I noticed cold air coming out of my house vents when the heater kicked on. I know that this is not supposed to happen,should be warm air right? can anyboby help me out with some suggestions? thanks I have to leave for work now,so any questions I will answers later tonight.

[az2tx]

elec or gas heat?

[dawgkllr]

If you have a heat pump type unit I have been told that this is normal from time to time (although my wife hates it when it happens right after she gets out of the shower LOL). If it is a regular unit then you need to have it checked out.
If anyone knows why the heat pump units do this I would love to know!?!

[k9trainer]

Heat pumps shouldn't be ran in weather below 40 degrees

[pmitch003]

Last night I noticed cold air coming out of my house vents when the heater kicked on. I know that this is not supposed to happen,should be warm air right? can anyboby help me out with some suggestions? thanks I have to leave for work now,so any questions I will answers later tonight.

i am sorry itys electric

[ECHO26]

if it's strait electric you might have a heat strip out. and to the question about heat pumps cold air at first it's because there is no time delay on the indoor blower and the indoor coil needs time to warm up, most newer models do not have this problem they added a time delay to the indoor blower.

[airpro]

A/C Tech

If it is a heat pump it could be going into defrost after it has bene on for while this melts any ice build up off the outdoor unit the best way to tell is to turn on your heat and go outside to see if the outdoor unit is running. more than likely it was not wired to bring on the Aux heat when the unit goes into defrost. Allso check all your breakers which should be located on the exterior wall of the house there may be two seperate breakers for the air handler and heater sections and one breaker for the outdoor unit locate these and make sure none of them are triped.If the problem only happens every so often then it is most likely the defrost cycle of the outdoor unit.
Hope this helps.

[pickles]

Heat pumps shouldn't be ran in weather below 40 degrees

This is not true. Who told you that?

[pmitch003]

Thanks for the help. I decided to just go ahead and have a new unit installed.

[k9trainer]

This is not true. Who told you that?

the 3 reputable heat/ac companies I talked to this week. I think I will take their word for it. My heat pump went out this weekend

[cashcropper]

My understanding was that heat pumps were just not as effective below mid 30 degrees range not that they shouldnt run below 40.

[k9trainer]

You're right, running one under 40 is not very effective.

[acearrow]

You're right, running one under 40 is not very effective.

That is why you have the auxillary heat on your heat pump. It is a strip that will heat up in the system to make up for the heat pumps inability to blow warm air in the colder temps. But it has never been a case where you shouldn't use one in temps under 40. That would have nothing to do with one going out. Many thousands of heat pumps have run in lower temps than that. It is just like you said, they are just not efficient at the lower temps.

[huntman933]

You're right, running one under 40 is not very effective.

There is a point and time where supplement heat will stage in to make up for the lack of hot compression from your compressor. But most still operate good at 40. Certain units have outdoor air thermostates that will begin staging in supplement heat. I try and talk people into putting the extra money your gonna spend on a heat pump to increasing the seer rating. We in most of Texas run our heaters about 3 months or so a year. The AC units run 7-8 and that's where that higher seer comes in to save you $$$$$.