Heatpump blowing cool air

retrofit_2008

17 years ago

I have a Rheem Heatpump and am not getting any heat when I switch it to emergency or set the thermostat high enough for the aux heat to come on. There is only 1 heating element and I have tested its continuity with an ohm meter after switching the fuses off and disconnecting the wires to the element. I have also tested the high limit thermostat and it is functioning just fine. Is it possible that the element could still be bad? When I reconnect everything and turn the furnace on the heating element sequencer opens up the circuit after about 20 seconds and I can measure the voltage flowing through the heating element. The sequencer has 24 volts and I'm measuring aroung 220 at the element. After a couple minutes I then shut everything down, pull the blower assembly out half way and the heating element is too hot to touch. Yet the air is still cold out of the registers. What am I missing? I have sat up there for 20 minutes measuring the current through the element to see if it is cycling but I don't see any kind of interruption in the power. I am completely baffled. Can anybody help? I know I can change the heating element if I have to, but it doesn't seem to be the problem since it is getting hot. At least it is too hot to touch.

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Comments (3)

tigerdunes
17 years ago
retro

what area of country do you live?

what is outside temp?

what size is your HP condenser? what size is your heat strip? outside condenser is working?

you have checked all breakers both outside and electric panel?

you are certain that the heat strip is operating on emergency? check your electric meter and see if it is rotating fast. unless your outside condenser has a problem, you should not go to emergency heat.

you have measured your inside supply temp? what is inside stat setting and inside temperature?

age of system and last time it was serviced?

heating element may need replacing and thermostat may be defective.

just doing a little brainstorming.

TD
retrofit_2008
Original Author
17 years ago
Wow! Great questions.. Wish I knew the answers to all of them, but it gives me more to check. I live in southwest Virginia and the evening temperature is in the 20's. The unit is about 10-15 years old I believe.

Oh my gosh!!! I was just going down the list and noticed the outside unit wasn't running. I pushed the reset switch and it fired back up. I now have warm air!!!! I didn't realize the condensor outside was necessary while running on aux or emergency so I never thought to check. Thank you very much for your help. I don't have a super accurate way to measure the temperature, but should probably pick up something for the future.

Thank you again. Sometimes it the simplest things that get overlooked.
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tigerdunes
17 years ago
retrofit

congrats.

keep in mind that you never switch to emergency heat unless there is an operating problem with outside condenser.

however, if I understood correctly, I am concerned that you said you were getting cold air when you switched to emergency heat. If so, this indicates a problem. I would monitor this over the next several days especially when outside temps dip and backup heat strips are required along with outside HP condenser running.

IMO
Good Luck!