Your guess that it might be a crankcase heater is certainly possible and any competent ac tech can prove or disapprove in less time than it took to write this. Fact is the tech or an electrician can easily test and find exactly where the energy is being consumed. If "standby"for this unit mean's it never supplies heat to the home "AND" the circulating water has anti-freeze,try turning it off while not occupied until you can have a tech find where energy is going. If it turn's out to be a crankcase heater,it should have a dedicated t-stat that prevent's it operating above a specific temperature.

Thank you, both, for your elaborate and competent comments, I will try to address them below.

By "stand-by", I mean that "heating/cooling" operations are turned off, while there is still power to the two Daikin units.

The relevant (actuator) menu on the internal Daikin unit displays:

- Pump - OFF

- Compressor - OFF

- Backup heater 1 - OFF

- Backup heater 2 - OFF

All other circulations pumps and their control boards are powered off.

DHW is not an issue, as we have a separate, old-fashioned boiler (which is also powered off).

We live in Romania and I am still waiting for a response from the national Daikin staff.

Why not get the installers back in to diagnose the issue?

We will definitely get the installer back to check out the issue!

In the meanwhile, just trying to understand, if this is normal or not.

stef369:

“By "stand-by", I mean that "heating/cooling" operations are turned off, while there is still power to the two Daikin units.

The relevant (actuator) menu on the internal Daikin unit displays:

- Pump - OFF

- Compressor - OFF

- Backup heater 1 - OFF

- Backup heater 2 - OFF

All other circulations pumps and their control boards are powered off.

DHW is not an issue, as we have a separate, old-fashioned boiler (which is also powered off).”

The only thing I can think of that would draw 500watts continuous, might be a thermostatically controlled heater that has a temperature range that doesn’t allow for a complete ‘OFF’ mode unless its breaker is switched OFF.

Might this or something else that draws 500watts continuous be piggybacked onto the HP system’s breaker?

If you have, can borrow, or rent an Infrared Thermal Imaging device, such as a ‘Fluke’, if not, make sure the technician shows up with one, I would suggest going through your house thoroughly, including the load centre breaker panel box to see what reveals this source of heat. 500watts continuously should reveal something that gets hot, warm or emits infrared energy.

That’s a lot of power; where there’s power there’s heat!

IMPO

SR

While I doubt this is the same issue, I was rather surprised at the background usage at my last house - something like 500w total. About 200 of it was the electronics for the Carrier heat pumps as best I could tell (2 systems so 100w each). Seemed like a lot for a few small computers here and there but when designed poorly, I can see it.

Only way to get rid of it was hit the breakers which I did before long vacations.

Wouldn't a "crankcase heater" be thermostatically controlled so not likely to be continuous. It would seem to be an incredibly lazy design if that were not the case.

Re: David Cary

“Wouldn't a "crankcase heater" be thermostatically controlled so not likely to be continuous. It would seem to be an incredibly lazy design if that were not the case.”

So far I have been unsuccessful in locating Carrier schematics that include crankcase heaters, although I’m not investing much time to do so. I know that our geothermal HP does have one and remember calling and questioning the president and chief design engineer (about 20-years ago) about not only its inclusion in the design but that in particular it being a waste of energy because it is not temperature controlled (always ‘ON’) and that in most geothermal designs it’s just not needed in that the compressor in a geothermal HP is located inside the conditioned space of the building envelope. He agreed and remarked that in all his years of being in business no one had ever challenged the legitimacy of the design, he was not complaining, just suggesting no one had drilled that deeply into the schematic. My background is in electronics long before ever getting involved professionally in geothermal was what I told him.

In fairness, I would speculate that these off the self compressors used in this design all included crankcase heaters because the manufacturer could not predict where or in what application they might be used and separate production runs (with & without heaters) would not be cost effective.

Our geothermal HP is an R-22 reciprocating compressor design. Subsequent models of the same series with r410a Scroll compressors, no longer indicate any crankcase heaters.

Back to your question. I would imaging that temperature control of any crankcase heater would be a logical requirement, if needed at all, for Energy Star accreditation. That seems to me to be a no-brainer, as well as controls that require a current draw below 5-watts and perhaps below even 1-watt in ‘stand-by’ mode for Energy Star certification. However things are probably further complicated by systems having to power remote illuminated T-Stats and blower fans that might always be ‘ON’ even at a minimum flow rate to circulate the air, humidify the air in heating mode and filter the air year round for better IAQ.

IMPO

SR

My 16kW single phase Altherma 3 split uses power to prevent pipes freezing in the outside unit, and operates when temperatures are below 8 deg C. This still functions even if the Space heating disabled, as it is a safety feature.

Hi stef369,

Did you solve the problem?

Because I have the same issue ATM.

Hi, it's pretty common with heat pumps thought none of us would make the purchase if we knew in advance I am sure... My HP is 200 per hour but 500 sounds insane .. check here for similar cases and info too https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/26840-ecodan-standby-power-consumption/

Hi, I had a problem with my current meter. Our HP works perfectly fine.

regards

That's interesting. I once had a problem with my current meter. My HP also works perfectly.

Get a kitchen magnet or decently strong one and drill the center of it out enough, to where you can split the live wire in two, and then wrap it around through the hole on opposite sides of the magnet. More turns equals more power. You can check it with a wireless meter. It works just like a step up transformer and neutral or ground dont need to be connected (we did this in HDMI or coaxial cables because of the signal not traveling that far to avoid amplifying the electricity with an amplifier), never ground a step up transformer but you can have a fault in there that doesnt connect to any wires but if theres any short or over load it will goto the ground wire and don't use steel as a ground wire, only .1 volts goes through it.

Now ^^ that's^^ the type information houzzers understand and can run with.