Heat Pump

I have an inspection tomorrow that the listing says that it has a heat pump.
I have never inspected a heat pump before. Can anyone tell me what to look for?
Does a heat pump also have a furnace within the system?

The Basics of how the operate… http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/heating-and-cooling/heat-pump.htm

A heat pump in Minnesota? That seems like a bad idea with the extreme cold.

My dad actually has one but I have never really looked at it . I think it suppliments his oil furnace

They work terrible in the cold. We have them here in NY and they run non stop in the cold weather until they burn themselves out trying to keep a house above 60F. Great in other climates, just be ready for the 3 am angry cold client in January call if you don’t mention anything about that

The first thing to determine is it a air to air heat pump or a ground source heat pump. The second thing to determine what is the heat source for emergency heat, Electrical heat strips, gas fired furnace, oil fired furnace.

I operate my HP’s in all three operating modes Normal heat mode, emergency heat mode and in the cool mode to ensure the reversing valve does indeed operate.

If you ensure the emergency heat mode is operating and is set to activate at a predetermined temp you don’t have to worry about that 3 AM call I have never had one;-)

Neither have I, because I point out every idiosyncrasy possible about them :slight_smile:

I’m guessing ya don’t like heat pumps;-)

I have a heat pump, and it’s the only way to go. Up north may be different. Most all currently are automatic, and switch to main furnaces at certain outside temps. They save tons of money on natural gas.

Gary I Don’t know about KC but here natural gas is much cheaper than electricity

Here people use wood burner boilers as the added heat source ;-):wink:

I have an air to air heat pump with gas backup. The gas kicks on once it get below 25 degrees. Not sure if I would ever have anything else.

Our home has electric heat and a gas fire place in the basement .
We put in a MR slim heat pump on main level .
It is great and the electric is on when temp is below about 18°F .
Being close to lake Ontario it seldom happens .
Mr. slim has been good for us.