Honeywell VisionPRO 8000 settings question

[cecasejr]

My Trane heat pump does a good job of heating my house without the use of electric strips. I do have the outdoor sensor that will disable the heat strips at temps above 40 degrees but even using intelligent recovery, my heat strips come on way too often. I set back my thermostat from 70 to 68 at night. Also, during the day I notice my heat strips are cycling on and off even with the temperature the same as the set point. My tech changed the CPH rate but the aux heat still comes on when it is not needed.

The tech said I could change setting 170 (SYSTEM TYPE) from 7 (2 HEAT/1 COOL HEATPUMP WITH AUX HEAT) to 2 (1 HEAT/1 COOL HEATPUMP NO AUX HEAT) and that would completely disable the heat strips. That sounds fine with me as I would rather be a little uncomfortable and save money as my electric bill is very high when the strips come on. My question is will changing that setting harm my heat pump? Any reason I shouldn't change it? Will that change indeed disable the heat strips?

When I do need the strips, I can always change it back right? Thank you very much for any help.

[cecasejr]

This will not be DYI. My HVAC tech will do this but I wanted to make sure it was safe to do before I consent. Thanks.

[TwincamDave]

You need strips when it goes into defrost and when it goes into 2nd stage hea/emergency heat, so by telling it you have no 2nd stage it will never go into it. The defrost cycle will get pretty cool coming out of the vents without the heat strips.What part of the country are you in?

[cecasejr]

Thanks for the reply. I asked the tech that specific question as a matter of fact and he said the defrost would not be effected. He said that was not controlled by the thermostat. I am glad I asked this forum! I am in Knoxville, TN, by the way.

[TwincamDave]

You could have him add an outdoor thermostat, it would interupt the heat strip call down to a certain point and then it would allow it to come on in extreme temps to help keep you warm.

[cecasejr]

I already have the outside thermostat but it only works down to 40 degrees, unfortunatly. I can withstand the cold defrost air blast if the setting change will stop the strips from coming on. Are you saying the setting change will not allow the heat pump to actually go into defrost mode? That sounds like equipment damaging to me. Thanks a million for the replies!

[BaldLoonie]

It will defrost and you will get backup heat in defrost. You just won't get backup.

[pacnw]

I am kind of looking to do similar with my unit.

Without going into DIY territory, I am thinking of adding an outdoor thermostat to control tempering heat call.

[hvacman14]

with an outdoor sensor wired to the stat, your tech can set the lockout of the heat strips as low as 25 degrees if i remember right, with that set up, they aux heat will not cycle until the outdoor temp is below that temp, defrost will not be affected as the demand for back up heat during defrost comes from the outdoor control not the tstat, your tech shouldnt have any issue setting this up for you, hope this helps

gary

[cecasejr]

It will defrost and you will get backup heat in defrost. You just won't get backup.

I'm sorry to keep asking questions but what do you mean by your last sentence? Do you mean everything will work as normal except AUX heat helping the heat pump? If so, I will have the tech do the change. He said it would not hurt anything and also said my heat pump is oversized anyway and could probably heat the house just fine without strips at all. I just don't understand why my Visionpro 8000 insists on turning them on even when the set temp and room temp are the same. I always thought there was a 2 degree difference needed before they engage.

[hvacman14]

the vp8000 has mutiple set up options, the way it is set up now,(from what you describe) is aux demand( 2 degree variance/run time dependent) it can be set up and be 'fine" tuned to meet what the house needs, with the outdoor sensor, and knowing the balance point of your home, you can limit the time they run, and make your system as efficient as possible, if you change the stat to be set up with out aux heat, you will loose the option of having em heat, which means if your outdoor unit breaks down on a cold night, you will be cold, i would reccomend going with the outdoor sensor, and balance points limit set on your stat. its the best way to set up a heat pump.

[BaldLoonie]

The normal way of setting up the Vision Pro is to allow the thermostat to ask for backup help if the heat pump isn't keeping up. You can use an outdoor sensor to lock out backup above a certain point. But if you go to heat pump without backup, no matter how cold it gets in the house, the strips won't come on. They only will run during a defrost since that isn't a function of the thermostat.

[pacnw]

let me be vague, due to DIY, but one might think about the wiring at the thermostat IF he does not want aux to run with stat control, BUT still wants to have strips in case an E happens.

one might also program the stat for dual fuel, as it controls the heat differently.