Furnace and Heat Pump Confusion

Dadave

Hello all, I'm new to cold weather. I have had some problems recently and even with my engineering background I am missing something to figure out my problem.

I have a gas furnace (Evcon MGP100AN1A) and an electric heat pump (Goodman GSH130301AB). For a while now my heating choice on my indoor control panel has only pumped cold air. So I would select em heat to use my (electric) aux pump. I have an indoor propane furnace as well. I saw that my propane was running low and figured that since I was using the electric heat pump that I would just run that when necessary. I have now run out of propane and nothing works. My confusion is that my gas furnace was never working, so why did running out of propane cause the heat pump to stop working.

Steamhead

It's cold enough that the system has locked out the heat pump. Heat pumps don't generally work well below 40 degrees or so. You need to get some propane to get the heat back on.

njtommy

On most duel fuel systems their is an out door air sensor that is used to switch over from the heat pump and turn on the propane furnace. It could be a program in the t-stat or you could have mechanical out door air relay.

What type of t-stat?

GW

Need more info

One stat handles all of the above stated duties?

Your HP works in mild weather and your furnace works in cold weather?

The same thermostat does the switching automatically?

If yes to all of that you probably have a "dual fuel" set up.

Your statement about electric aux adds a bit of confusion

Find the manual and lower the balance point to as low as it goes. It will be better than nothing

If you don't have the manual or don't know what it is, remove it from the wall and look for the model numbers on the back.

Or post a pic of it, someone may now the settings off the top of their head

Dadave

To njtommy - I have a Honeywell thermostat. If you mean your question on a more technical level I am unsure currently.

To GW -

1. One stat does handle all duties as far as the Honeywell control panel indicates.

2. The outdoor furnace never seemed to work. When it was 55 degrees outside I couldn't get the temp up 1 degree with the "heat" function on. When I tried the "em heat" function everything worked great so I assumed the furnace was malfunctioning. Because I had the heat pump and the indoor furnace I figured all was well.

3. Yes it does the switching automatically.

So yes, I don't know, and yes.

I agree that the electric heat pump makes it all confusing.

When you say find the manual are you referring to the stat, the hp, or the furnace?

Dadave

Heat pump on top and the furnace in the bottom

njtommy

ok so the t-stat controls the switch over

https://customer.honeywell.com/resources/techlit/TechLitDocuments/68-0000s/68-0280.pdf

Go to setting 0350 and see what it's set for also go through and make sure all the other setting are correct for your application.

GW

I think you have to be in heat mode to access the programming, it's been a while since I've worked an 8000 stat. The directions in the manual are pretty clear. Lower 350 as low as it goes. Your 2 1/2 ton HP may warm things up a few degrees, but you need some LP asap.

Dadave

Sorry about the delay. I got so angry and cold that I couldn't think straight so I hopped in my truck and went to town. There's a heating and ad store there and a guy said he'd come out for 29 bucks just to diagnose and I am glad I did.

First off, from there, I really appreciate your help. But my explanation of the problem was so wrong that your help could never have worked.

The HP was my primary but it was so cold that it wasn't able to work and needed the backup outdoor furnace to kick in. But rather than having my system on automatic I was selecting heat or em heat. Auto causes the backup to kick in simultaneously but I never used auto so I never understood. Because the furnace was the backup and I was selecting it by itself I was burning a lot of propane along with my indoor propane furnace. Once I ran out of propane I was out of options.

As for your previous comments I don't know how to enter programming mode. There is a button that says More on the bottom right but it doesn't have any options. Are there any other buttons to press?