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Heater Can't Keep Up

January 8th, 2014 at 12:46 am

Our outside temperature last night got down to -1. It is the coldest I ever remember it being in Georgia and I have lived here my whole life. BRRRRRR!!! But when I got up this morning, I went to turn the thermostat up to take the chill off a little more and it was 59 degrees in the house! And the heat was running. So after a phone call to my mom, I turned on the emergency heat. It didn't help any. I left to get my license renewed and it went down 2 degrees. I called my mom again and she thought that maybe the heat just couldn't keep up with how cold it was. So I turned the heat back to normal and waited. About 5:00 it finally got back up to 68 in the house! I am so glad I called my mom and didn't immediately overreact and call the HVAC company! Now I know what to expect if it gets this cold here again. I will know that I need to buy a space heater before the next cold snap!

9 Responses to “Heater Can't Keep Up”

  1. momcents Says:
    1389142203


    Aw, if you lived closer, I'd share mine. We've had difficulties with the heater back in December and it was thankfully a routine maintenance issue (some plugged trap created some air pocket and the heater would turn off). Glad to hear that you got it working.

  2. scfr Says:
    1389143267

    Wow - That's tough. I hope you stay warm tonight!

  3. creditcardfree Says:
    1389143666

    What is emergency heat? I hope tonight is better. I had a friend lose heat on the coldest night for about five hours during the night.

  4. North Georgia Gal Says:
    1389190161

    CCF...Emergency heat is a setting on my thermostat. I am not sure what the difference is between regular heat and emergency heat though.

  5. CB in the City Says:
    1389199729

    Do you have a heat pump? They are common in the South and they do have trouble keeping up when temperatures are very low.

  6. Looking Forward Says:
    1389230717

    Heat pumps have "emergency heat" for when the heater isn't running right or you are having power issues. (I think it's like battery powered heat strips.)

    Make sure you have a clean filter or change it now. If your heater is working hard to suck in air it doesn't run very well.
    And with the extra cold it very well may take awhile to "catch-up".

  7. Looking Forward Says:
    1389254405

    Talked to my DH (HVAC contractor) and he said the Emergency Heat on a heat pump is when something happens to compressor (heater broken). I was wrong about the battery as it uses power to run the heat strips. He said it is extra expensive (more electricity) when it runs in Emergency Heat (Yikes!). Hope that helps.

  8. bluesfemme Says:
    1389280231

    Wish i could send you some of our heat - it's going to be 43 (celcius) on Saturday :-(

  9. North Georgia Gal Says:
    1389284050

    Thanks LF! That helps alot! Glad I didn't keep the Emergency Heat on too long!

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