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I'm renting a 2 level condo with a heat pump on each level. It's a loft type situation, lots of space for first floor heat to rise to the second floor. I'm wondering if I should keep the 2F pump on, even though I rarely use the space. Is it causing the 1F unit to work too hard with all the heat rising? It's fairly well insulated.
I'm not paying the electric bill, but I do want to be somewhat frugal to help out the landlord.
I live in VT. We heat primarily with wood.
My understanding is you will need a back up for that heat pump because they do not function well once the temp dips below a certain temperature. You should get with the landlord, assuming they did some homework before they had the pump installed and didn't just do it for the subsidy that comes with it.
People I know who have them are not completely satisfied for the reason I just stated.
Without a whole dissertation on the principles of “Fluid Dynamics”, and to keep the answer to your question in the most lay-person terms…
Yes! Use both. And set the t-stats at the same temperatures.
I agree with this. Use both.
You're right that the heat created by the first floor unit will make its way up to the second floor, so by running the upstairs unit in conjunction with the downstairs unit you'll be sharing the load. Also, as it gets colder out you'll need more capacity from the heat pumps so you'll do better to have both running instead of just one.
If you want to be somewhat frugal --- have the LL install a ceiling fan or return air system to pull hot air out of the loft and into the main space in a way that keeps it somewhat mixed but not breezy.
I have a nice new heatpump. If the temps outside fall below 30 degs here, theres an auxilliary heating element that kicks in. So, it should work fine. You could experiment a bit with both units on a cold night to see what works best.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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The more modern heat pumps do better, but I have leased 3 commercial spaces for a business that I had for 16 years. Each of them had a rooftop heat pump. As soon as it got below about 25F they would freeze up, and there would not be any heat at all. Their "supplemental heat" did nothing to heat a space like 2,900 sf. In a later job we had a tenant bring on an office trailer with a heat pump in Seattle. I went by one day and the part of it sticking out was totally covered with hard ice, so no air could get through it. It was only about 30 that day but had been colder for several days.
Several cities/states lately have started to talk about legislation to require heat pumps on all new construction, so I hope they have managed to figure out how to handle more extreme cold.
Several cities/states lately have started to talk about legislation to require heat pumps on all new construction, so I hope they have managed to figure out how to handle more extreme cold.
“They”, meaning the “legislation”… oh, surely you jest!!!?
That’s a perfect example of “left hand not knowing what right is doing”!
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