Oil Furnace Problems And Reviews

Question: Question about a oil furnace/heat pump combo.?

(Posted by: rhmcdonald519 on 2010-01-18 07:33:24)

My oil furnace/ heat pump combo has been acting a little weird lately. The guy that installed it is coming to look at it today so I want to be able to tell him what is going on. (This guy is not much on giving me any kind of information as to how this thing works.) I thought he told me that the heat pump would heat until 40 degrees outside and then the furnace would take over at temperatures lower than 40. Anyway, it is about 45 degrees right now and the oil furnace is still heating- I thought the heat pump should be heating now. I have noticed in the past few days this seems to be happening. What would cause this? Also, where is this 'temperature sensor' that determines which one- furnace or heat pump- runs?

Posted by: gizmoe on 2010-01-18, 09:04:25

You have a thermostat somewhere that switches it over. Some use the indoor thermostat and would have an outdoor thermistor or sensor that would connected to it to tell what the outdoor temperature is. It may have the control located in the outdoor unit and it changes it over from there. You should be able to have it lower than that but it depends on the fuel oil costs versus electrical cost in your area.