Thermopump and Oil heating

at8once

I have a thermopump and oil heating. I have 2 settings on our thermostat "Heat" which is the thermopump and "emergency heat" which is the oil. We have a little light that comes on to tell us when its more practical to use the oil then it is to use the thermopump.(barely ever came on last winter) Its not automatic, we have to switch it ourselves. (guess this is pretty standard)



Last winter we used the "heat" setting/thermopump only, except for about 3-4 weeks in Jan/Feb when it was like -30C out..thats when we used the oil.

 

For the past 2 days our furnace is on as usual, and there is air pumping out, only thing is, its not hot air....On my "white rodgers" thermostat its been saying "system on +2" ive never really noticed that +2 before...it is decently cold out, maybe -10C.. the light usually doesnt go on unless its about -18C. Anyways i played around with the thermostat and its just saying system on now. But its still not pumping out any heat. The thermopump is running...but its just not producing any heat.



I checked the furnace downstairs and nothing seemed suspect however I noticed I was out of oil... which is odd because I had 1/4 tank left over last time i used it last spring.



Anyways, i called a company to see if they could come take a look at my thermopump. They told me that even though i solely have my thermopump on. It will still use oil every now and then automatically  to keep things heated. I told them that the oil has its own setting and i had to manually set it before it kicked on. they said no, it still comes on when the thermopump is on as well. I aint going to argue, they obviously know more then me.



Anyways i have no clue.... only been in this house for 1 year and im just going off from what the previous owners told me.



So now here are my questions... when i have my manual setting to "heat" which is my thermopump. does my oil still kick in? I find this odd because if my thermopump cant produce an oz of hot air right now...then why even have it on or even have a setting for it if the heat that is coming out is only produced by the oil? Might as well  just keep it only on "emergency heat" then right? like it just doesnt make much sense. But i have zippo as for knowledge in this, but would like to learn at least about my own system.

icesailor

Heat Pumps:

You need your system serviced by someone who knows and understands how it works and when it works.



It sounds like it isn't working properly and it needs service. If it ran out of oil, it did so for a reason. It's too complicated for anyone here to DX it for you if you are not a professional. You have a complicated management system.