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debfeb0203 · Oct 24, 2006, 05:42 PM

I recently moved to a home with electric heat. I am not familiar with it. Is the air from the registers suppose to be more cool than warm, it is not cold but cool

Debbi

RickJ · Oct 25, 2006, 06:17 AM

It should not be "cool" but electric heat does not put out the hot air that gas heat does.
One thing you might check, though: If your furnace has more than one heating element, then one of them could be bad.

Here's an overview of how to test the element(s):
http://www.toad.net/~jsmeenen/electricfurnace.html

omzig · Oct 25, 2006, 06:31 AM

You didn't mention what type of electric heat that you have. Is it a heat pump? The air from the registers from a heat pump is only a few degrees warmer than than the already in the room, and since it's moving, it feels even cooler. But this is normal for a heat pump. If you are used to some other kind of heating, like forced-air gas, the air from the heat pump will feel much cooler by comparison.

RickJ · Oct 25, 2006, 06:43 AM

To clarify: The above is certainly true about the air coming out if you have a heat pump.

You still, though, have heating elements making the heat... so if you have more than one heating element and not all of them are working, then the air coming out will not be as hot as it should be.

omzig · Oct 25, 2006, 07:51 AM

My first experience with a heat pump was during my college days, when I rented a townhouse (which BTW RickJ, was in Columbus OH). On the first cold night, I turned the heat on and was sure that it wasn't working because all I felt was cool air from the registers. So I called my landlord and woke him up to tell him that the heat wasn't working. He told me that this was the way that heat pumps work and that it was normal. I was quite skeptical but he insisted. He was right, the apartment stayed warm all night.

As it gets colder outside, the heat pump gets less efficient and eventually is not able to keep up, so the system has electric resistance coils that come on. My system had two sets of coils, one that was called auxiliary heat, and the other, emergency heat. The thermostat had lights to indicate when they were on. When the coils were on, the air from the system definitely felt warmer (and my electric bill got larger :eek: ). In my experience, the auxiliary coils would start to come on when the outside temperature dipped below the low 20's and the emergency heat only came on once or twice when it was below zero.

RickJ · Oct 25, 2006, 09:09 AM

Go Bucks!

Anyway, you are right. Heat pumps should not be installed in places like the midwest. All they do is run for nothing - wasting electricity - when it's below 20-25 degrees or so.

Heat pumps are meant for places like out west where the winter weather gets to the 30s or 40s in the evenings.

When it's below 20-25 degrees outside, we tell our tenants who have heat pumps to switch the thermostat to AUX or EMERG HEAT so that the heat pump is bypassed altogether.

NorthernHeat · Oct 25, 2006, 02:12 PM

Properly set up, when the outdoor ambient temperature falls below a set temperature the low amient switch automatically shuts off the heat pump and turns on the emergancy heat. This is called restricted mode. These new 13 and 14 seer heat pumps are very efficient, even in the midwest. Maytag has a 24 seer heat pump coming out in the spring of 2007 they say will still produce cheap heat down to 20 degrees. Even if a heat pump has only an 8 degree rise it is cheaper than resistance heat.