First “Auxiliary Heat”, “Strip Heat”, “Emergency Heat”, “ Radiant Heat ” are all used to reference the same heating mechanism; your electric heat strips that come with a heat pump. Please call to get service when this happens. These supplemental heating sources are things such as the electric resistance heating at the indoor unit, gas, oil or even hot-water back-up systems. If you’ve taken even a slightly longer glance at your thermostat, you may have noticed it has a couple of extra heat settings: one called “auxiliary heat” and one called “emergency heat.” While most people know these two settings exist, few people actually know the difference between them. No-frills heat pump systems without the auxiliary heat capability sometimes make that feature an add-later option. Generally, the NTE will use the heat pump if it needs to heat three degrees or less and auxiliary heating if it needs to heat up four or more degrees. The diagram on Nest indicates that W1 and W2 are Aux heat, and OB is "heat pump". So while the heat does turn on at a 2 degree difference, it will blow cool air from that point until the 4 degree swing is met. This is why it is only used in an emergency situation. Aux on the thermostat stands for auxiliary heat. Short answer: You should only set your heat pump’s thermostat to “emergency heat” when your heat pump stops heating altogether. But the house just doesn't warm up until it gets above freezing, indicating that the emergency heat is never coming on. If there's a wire in the W1 connector, make sure it says AUX heat. This happens sometimes when it’s colder than average and on the verge of extreme temperature drop like Nashville experienced this last spring. Otherwise, just keep your thermostat set on “heat.” There is no temperature to switch it over to emergency heat, even if your heat pump is running constantly due to cold weather. Emergency heat is the same thing as auxiliary heat. How to minimize the use of auxiliary heat with a heat-pump on your ecobee thermostat Question: We have a heat pump and recently installed an ecobee thermostat. While they do allow you to continue to get the heat you need in your home to stay both comfortable and healthy, they do cost quite a bit more to run for longer periods of time, which is why they’re a less desirable option. The thermostat will sense this and turn on electric heat strips automatically turning on the “AUX” heat light. Your heat pump only is the “first stage” heating. Auixiliary Heat will turn on automatically when heat can no longer efficiently transfer heat from the outside air to heat pump. Auxiliary heating turns on automatically to help heat your home more quickly if the temperature drops suddenly. Call Parks Heating & Cooling today at (704) 313-1443 or contact us online to schedule a heating service with our team. AUX heat can cost about 2 to 5 times as much as running your heat pump. Especially when the weather is below 40 degrees. AUX/AUX1 and AUX2. Emergency Heat is typically triggered when it is 35°F and below outside. Nest thermostat Heat Pump Balance settings are for systems that have a heat pump and auxiliary (AUX) heat. Both of these heat modes are designed to work in extremely cold temperatures, and choosing the wrong one could have potentially bad consequences for your heater and for your home in general. This indicates that Nest is using its "avoid aux. Do I turn it on when it’s really cold? Thus,when your heater has been on for a few hours, your system will have to defrost itself in order to continue functioning. We are always here to help as much as we can! Heat pumps need a supplemental heating source. So on this blog, the experts at Parks Heating & Cooling take a look at both of them and explain the important differences between the two. The unit outside your home is a heat pump and the unit inside the home is the auxiliary heating system. You don’t have to connect your Nest thermostat to your Wi-Fi network. The important thing to remember is that “AUX” heat is fast and dependable but it’s also more expensive than heat … This is known as running on “auxiliary heat.” Generally, this can’t be controlled manually, but is instead switched over to automatically when your system either senses that it has been running for too long, or too much ice has built up on the outdoor coil and it needs to begin a defrost cycle. Air-source heat pumps work on a novel principle: instead of directly producing the heat that you need to keep warm through the winter, the heat pump will find heat energy in the outside air and bring it into your home, using refrigerant as the medium of heat exchange.. The Emergency Heat setting locks out the heat pump and forces the auxiliary heat source (in Minneapolis homes, it’s most likely a gas furnace) to provide 100% of the home’s heating. This way, your compressor creates heat by pressurizing your refrigerant before sending it into your home, and then your expansion chamber cools it again when it’s sent back outside. Once the ice on the heat pump has mostly melted, the heat pump goes back to normal and AUX heat turns off. It does need to be noted, if your thermostat stays in “Aux Heat” even when temperatures outside rises, you should call to have it serviced. If you have a heat pump, it is best to increase your heat setting by only two degrees at a time to prevent your auxiliary heat from operating. The emergency heat setting has to be manually switched on and should only be used in temperatures below 30 degrees. From what I've been reading, W1 is primary heat, W2 is Aux heat and O B is for the reversing valve. They will work in tandem when the temperatures drop to those cold numbers. In this video we go over the heat pump balance feature in the programming of the NEST thermostat. Emergency heating needs to be turned on manually under Settings > Equipment and that will always use your Emergency/Auxiliary heating instead of your heat … Heat pump systems have two units - one outside the home and one inside the home. The Emergency Heat Switch on a Heat Pump confuses a lot of people. The Thermostat will turn on the heat strips (1) when the temp difference is more than 2-3 degrees (white wire to W2). When turned on, the heat pump shuts off entirely, allowing you to receive heat without damaging your outdoor heat pump system. All these are great questions! Supplemental heating sources are known as “second-stage” or “back-up” heating. You can choose how much expensive AUX heat your system will use when your heat is running. For those who operate such equipments just now, perhaps you should know the difference between the two rather than just operate on the device blindly. At this point, refrigerant gets so cold outside that compressing it becomes nearly impossible, and thus it can’t absorb what little heat is left. AUX heat can also start if the pump can’t handle the outside heat on cold winter nights. Both “auxiliary” and “emergency” heat have to do with the operation of these electrical strips. Here's the long and short of it. In the usage of a standard heat pump, users often encounter the terms heat and emergency heat. So the signal will either come from the White Wite on W2 or the brown wire on E to turn on the heat strips. I guess the only difference is that AUX is an ‘indicator’ on your thermostat that you are running the heat strips when the switch is set to HEAT. Only run your system in this mode when you truly need it to avoid damaging your central system. 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