How warm should I be ?

[B4WEDI]

How much heat should I expect from the AC / Heat Pump combo on my new Bambi ?

I find I must put the thermostat all the way up to 99 to make the air coming out feel even a little warm.

Granted it was in the 30's here last night, but that jet on the roof never stopped and I woke up to only 67 inside here this AM.

With as hard as that thing worked and the small space is has to heat, I thought I should have awoken in a sweat with all the blankets on the floor !

Please advise.

Freezin' in Florida

[enduroryda]

First I thought 67' ...that's pretty good for the temps we are having here in New England but then I saw your "Freezin' in Florida"...... migration is not working for you...might want to add a small ceramic heater. I was amazed when we were camping in NH back in the fall how much heat was put out from the little unit. It got down into the low 30's and that's all we were using in our 21' and it kept us pretty toasty.

[ASBear]

Good Morning, we woke up to 40 degrees this AM in Florida, and that is the lower limit for efficiency in these rooftop heatpumps. The output of air from a heatpump will always feel fairly cool (lower 70s) so your situation does not surprise me. Just fire up the furnace for a few minutes and you will be fine.

ASBear in Trilby, FL

[myboyburt]

Originally Posted by enduroryda

First I thought 67' ...that's pretty good for the temps we are having here in New England but then I saw your "Freezin' in Florida"...... migration is not working for you...might want to add a small ceramic heater. I was amazed when we were camping in NH back in the fall how much heat was put out from the little unit. It got down into the low 30's and that's all we were using in our 21' and it kept us pretty toasty.

Ditto - one tiny ceramic heater keeps our 25' Excella warm in cold weather. Keeps the propane furnace from kicking in which is a good thing as our furnace is wicked loud.

[bill benton]

I don't think the heat pump was ever meant to be the primary source of heat in a travel trailer. They work well to take the chill off. But just fire up that furnace and you will be able to enjoy plenty of nice hot air.

[TIMEMACHINE]

Originally Posted by B4WEDI

How much heat should I expect from the AC / Heat Pump combo on my new Bambi ?
Granted it was in the 30's here last night, but that jet on the roof never stopped and I woke up to only 67 inside here this AM.
Freezin' in Florida

First of all, are you sure that you have the heat pump and not the heat strip? If it is the heat pump version, it was my understanding that it does not operate at lower outside temperatures, that being defined in the 30 degree neighborhood area.

as was stated earlier, the heat pump is not inteneded for primary heating, the LP furnace is the designated primary heat source and will get you sweaty if you turn it up.

[cammur]

"....First of all, are you sure that you have the heat pump and not the heat strip?"

OK, I'll bite. What is the difference between the heat pump and the heat strip?

On edit, my 2005 Safari has the heat strip, and my experience is much as described above. No help at really low temperatures, but some help if a bit noisy at mild temperatures. But what is a heat strip?

[jcanavera]

Once my heat pump gets going it can put out 90 degree temps when we are in the mid 40's outside. Once you drop below 40 the heat output starts dropping. I find mid 30 outside temps marginal. There is a cut off where the thermostat will switch over to the furnace but at least in my trailer its far too low to keep the interior comfortable on heat pump alone.

The other thing that makes me wonder if you truly have a heat pump is that the heat pump has a defrost cycle. After a certain amount of run time (I forget what that is), the fan shuts down and the heat pump cycle changes to cooling mode while the compressor continues to run. This process causes the outside coils to warm which will defrost any ice which accumulates. If the unit ices up externally, you will get very little heat from the unit. You talked about the unit running continually, you should have noticed the defrost cycle, unless you actually have a heat strip equipped air conditioner.

The heat strip is electrical coils that heat the air through the blower. I had such a unit on my '01 Safari. It is limited in its ability to provide serious heat, and takes a long time to heat up when the trailer is cool. As I remember the strip cannot be controlled by the thermostat and is either on or off. I found it only useful when temperatures were in the 50's or at best upper 40's.

Jack

[Fyrzowt]

As an aside, it doesn't matter if the thermostat is set to 70 or 99 degrees, as long as it's cooler in the trailer than 70 degrees. If the heater is on, it's heating. It doesn't put out more heat at 99 than it does at 70.
Dave

[Pecos Pete]

I spend a lot of time in the trailer when it is cold out. I have found that the most efficient heat is the furnace and a small ceramic heater in the living area (only running when we are in the trailer). The heat pump only works well when it is above 40 outside and will go into defrost mode after a few hours of heating mode. It also sometimes helps to close off the bedroom if you can to concentrate the heat to the areas you spend the most time in.

[moosetags]

We have an '05 Safari 25' FB and have camped in cold weather (for us native Floridians) quite a bit. We have probably spent 30 nights in Lucy (our Airstream) in temperatures at or near freezing. We have the 13,500 btu heat pump. We have found it to be more than adequate to keep Lucy toasty during the night. We have also used the gas furnace, and found it to be more than adequate.

Make sure that you have the heat pump rather the heat strips. You can determine this from the wall thermostat. If it is a heat pump, there will be a setting that shows 'heat pump' on the little screen.

If you do have the heat pump, it should work a lot better than you describe, especially on a Bambi.

[davidz71]

I had a heat strip in my Armstrong AC and it was my understand from posts years ago that it did nothing but take the morning chill out of the air in the trailer but it couldn't be very cold outside. I would think the newer heat strips would be about the same. I could feel the warmth but it was never hot.

[Pecos Pete]

I had electric heat strips in my Bambi. Was told by the dealer that they were only good for taking the morning chill off - I agree. The heat pump will have an actual thermostat - at least mine does, not controls on the unit.

[TIMEMACHINE]

Originally Posted by cammur

"....First of all, are you sure that you have the heat pump and not the heat strip?"

OK, I'll bite. What is the difference between the heat pump and the heat strip?

On edit, my 2005 Safari has the heat strip, and my experience is much as described above. No help at really low temperatures, but some help if a bit noisy at mild temperatures. But what is a heat strip?

Ok, there seems to be a lot of confusion about the difference between a HEAT STRIP and a HEAT PUMP. Here is my understanding with an option to be wrong without being flamed....

The heat strip is an electrical heating element which is located in the roof mounted A/C housing unit. It heats up and uses the A/C fan to distribute the heat off of the element into the AS.

The heat pump is part of the AC system as it is using the reverse process of the A/C cooling system to bring warm air into the AS, again using the A/C fan to distribute the warm air

Neither sytem is intended to be the primary heating source for your AC. The heat pump version is not in all A/C units, usually only the 13,500 and 15,000 btu units. The late model AS that do have the heat pump version are operated by the wall thermostat system and clearly shows "Heat Pump" as one of the modes of operation. It is my understanding that if this heat pump mode is selected and the outside temperature drops too low (somewhere in the 30s), the system automatically switches to the "Furnace" mode which is the LP heating system that is connected to the interior ducts found near floor level throughout the AS.

If there is someone with more experience please confirm and/or correct this attempt to explain.

[davidz71]

timemachine,
You are correct in that there is a heat strip and a heat pump. My post was thinking of the heat strips in my two trailers rather than the available heat pump.

[markdoane]

The wall thermostat on the Penguin does control the heat strip. You may need to take the cover off and set a dip switch, but it does control.

It doesn't modulate, but it will turn it on and off at whatever temperature you set on the thermostat.

[nohillgrish]

This has pretty well already been addressed, but my heat pump will actually shut off when outside temperature hits 40 degrees. My understanding is that is what it's supposed to do. All good advice regarding a little supplemental heat from small heater. However, if the heater is used too much your furnace doesn't cycle sufficiently to keep space around your holding tanks warm. Pretty important if you're "wet camping" below freezing.

[cammur]

My thanks particularly to Timemachine. Your explanation correlates with my Safari (and probably yours). I have the 11,000 unit and I have the heat strip - always thought I had a heat pump.

[B4WEDI]

" Natasha " came to us as an orphan, rather than purchased new. I didn't get all the build info or documentation I should have. I did recently email A/S to see if they may have a record of my build, reply pending.

My thermostat does have a setting for "Heat Pump" and I had it in my head it was a 13, 500, but not sure. It does cycle on & off and blows cooler air in between, kind of like the furnace.

Shame on me, I thought the heat pump was the primary heat when plugged into shore power and the little furnace was what was used when boondocking.

Why shouldn't all the appliances work off the shore power when connected and not be dependent on using your batteries or propane, HW heater too......

I'm sure this is discussed elsewhere, but while we are on the subject......
Just what kind of " little ceramic heaters " are you folks using ?

Currently 54 degrees and raining. Thanx to everyone who chimed in here and a BIG Hello to my new friends from NH ! Stay warm !

[5cats]

Originally Posted by B4WEDI

[...]
I'm sure this is discussed elsewhere, but while we are on the subject......
Just what kind of " little ceramic heaters " are you folks using ?

Currently 54 degrees and raining. Thanx to everyone who chimed in here and a BIG Hello to my new friends from NH ! Stay warm !

We have this one from target:


Cheers,
-jd.