When To Use Emergency Heat?

When To Use Emergency Heat?

When to use emergency heat? It is utilized when there is an issue with the first stage of heating (the HeatPump itself). That would be a good time to switch to Emergency Heat if you detect that your home is chilly and that your heat pump isn’t working properly and you went outside to see a tree have fallen and crushed your heat pump.

Before you tinker, regardless of the circumstance, you should get familiar with your house devices’ settings. That is why we’ve put up this EM Heat tutorial to show you how to use a heat pump in your house in the most effective way possible.

Emergency Heat

fire burning in barrel
When To Use Emergency Heat?

In the event of a power outage, the emergency heat option activates your home’s backup heating system. If you have an emergency heat thermostat on your heat pump and a backup fuel source such as electricity, oil, gas, or hot water, it’s likely that you have a heat pump with a backup fuel source.

The most common usage of a heat pump is as the primary setting in a heating system, with only the secondary function (gas, oil, or electric) being switched on when required. All heat pumps in colder regions need an emergency backup heat supply if the temperature is below 35 degrees Fahrenheit.

However, if you switch on your EM heat manually, only the secondary source of heat is drawn. Your backup heat pump is now operating independently rather than in tandem with your primary unit. If you don’t want to pay exorbitant heating costs, this should be utilized only as a last resort.

A popular misunderstanding is that emergency heat is only for times of serious need, yet it’s actually quite simple: Emergency heat is meant to be used in an emergency.

Those who believe that the setting is for extra-cold days will be disappointed when they receive their heating invoice (and they won’t be any warmer). If the temperature drops too low, your primary heating system will activate your backup heating system.

When should you turn on the EM heat in your house? It’s only necessary to utilize it if your heat pump has broken down. You should also use it only when your heating system is being repaired.

Examples of Emergencies

Maybe your heating system or heat pump requires repair, in which case you may turn on the EM heat and wait for the repairman to show up. If your main heat pump is frozen and won’t defrost even though your heater is turned on, a qualified service technician may need to come out to assess it.

When Not To Use Emergency Heat

long exposure photography of fireplace
When To Use Emergency Heat?

Before you use your thermostat’s Emergency Heat function, make sure to read this! When the temperature drops below 35°F, which is when the heat pump can no longer remove heat from the outside, your heating system’s Emergency Heat or Auxiliary Heat setting is activated.

When the heating system is switched on, it may draw power from the backup source to generate extra heat, but only if the Emergency Heat mode has been activated.

If you change your thermostat to emergency heat, you might get the following:

High energy bills

Putting your home on Emergency Heat would be expensive. Going to this setting changes the source of your heat from a heat pump to a more inefficient and costly electric heat strip.

Taxing your system

When you use emergency heat, your system must operate as if the main source of heat were not available. Because of this, the backup element is put under a lot of strain, which it is only meant to be utilized in extreme situations for a short time.

When the primary heating system can’t keep the temperature or there’s an issue with your heater, it will automatically switch on your Emergency Heat. If the fan still doesn’t turn on after that, make sure your thermostat is set to avoid the system from being on all of the time.

If you provide emergency heat without providing air circulation, your outside unit may be damaged. You should never manually turn on the Emergency Heat unless your heat pump has completely broken down. As soon as you realize this is the case, have your heating system tested and repaired straight away.

Please contact Wentzel’s as soon as possible to discuss the cause of your emergency heat demand. Only then should you activate the Emergency Heat if your heat pump is no longer heating your home.

FAQs – When To Use Emergency Heat?

Has Your EM Heat Been Accidentally Turned On?

If you’ve triggered your EM heating system by accident while looking for “how to turn off emergency heat,” don’t be alarmed. You can just as easily turn off your emergency heat as you can switch it on.

How Does EM Heat Work? 

EM heat working process is quite simple. The heat pump and the auxiliary heating source are both included in a heat pump-equipped home. Outside is typically the primary heat pump, while the inside is generally your second-stage heating system.

When the outside temperature is too low for your heat pump to extract heat, the second heating stage is intended to add more warmth. It’s important to note that the actual times when you should use this backup energy source will vary based on your system and thermostat. This secondary heat source is activated when temperatures drop below a certain threshold.

The heat pump’s coils, which are generally exposed to the elements, build frost. This additional source comes on once the heat pumps are turned off for defrosting. Because of this, it’s not necessary to manually change the temperature setting. When your thermostat is in EM heat mode, there will be a light on it.

Even though it is primarily utilized alongside your primary heating system, this secondary heat source may be manually activated. The electrical heating system referred to as “EM heat” is one form of heat. When you switch on the EM heater, it tells your heating system to stop using your heat pump and instead rely solely on this additional source.

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