First off, auxiliary heat means you have a working heat pump. Second, it means the outdoor temperature is too cold, so your heat pump is using “backup” heat to heat your home.
But don’t worry—it’s normal.
We’ll explain what “backup” heating means, why and when your heat pump switches to it, and how to tell if it’s normal or not.
Your heat pump switches to auxiliary heat because it can no longer pull in heat from the outdoor air to warm your home.
But to help you understand this switch better, let’s take a quick look at how a heat pump works.
During the winter, your heat pump is basically an air conditioner in reverse. That means it cools air in the summer, but it can also heat air in the winter—to a certain degree.
You see, a heat pump heats your home’s air by extracting heat from outdoor air and bringing that heat inside. Because your heat pump is moving existing heat instead of creating it — a highly-efficient form of heating.
Sometimes the outside air just feels cold. But in reality, there’s still plenty of heat to extract from it. On the other hand, your heat pump does have its limitations. When it’s too cold outside, your heat pump will struggle to heat your home because there’s just not enough heat in the outdoor air.
Well, it depends on the region you live in and the unit you are using. Usually, once temperatures drop below 35° F, there’s just not enough heat in the outdoor air to heat your home. However, many multi-stage units can run down to 0° F. For reliable heat in cold temperatures, you can pair your multi-stage heat pump with a high efficiency gas-fired furnace.
Related: Do Heat Pumps Work in Cold Climates?
Well, the kind of auxiliary heating you have depends on the kind of heating system you have. For example, most heat pumps have one of two types of backup heating:
Emergency heat is NOT the same thing as auxiliary heat. Auxiliary heat signifies that your heat pump has automatically switched over to backup heating because temperatures are too low. Emergency heat is an option on your thermostat that you can manually turn on to activate backup heating. You shouldn’t ever use emergency heat unless there’s truly an emergency — like your heat pump isn’t working — because backup heating increases energy bills.
Does your auxiliary heat keep coming on, even when it’s above 35° outside?
That’s a problem.
It could mean one of your thermostats may be stuck or faulty, which is causing your system to be stuck in auxiliary heat mode non-stop.
To avoid a large energy bill (because aux heat is more expensive than heat pump heating), you’ll want an HVAC professional to check your thermostat and fix it ASAP.
Give us a call or contact us online. We’ll send over one of our trusted techs to see what’s causing the problem and fix the issue.
Check out our heating repair page to learn what to expect when you schedule a heat pump repair through us.
For your convenience, you can request an appointment in one of two ways:
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