wrote in message
oups.com...
I have a Lennox Heat Pump and a Honeywell Chronotherm IV 8611
Thermostat. I understand the concept of the heat pump. I am a little
confused about the Auxilary electric heat though. I live in Connecticut
and it's been ranging from 2F to 20F degrees at night. I have the
thermostat set at 65F. Some nights the unit runs almost constantly. I
had a service call yesterday and the tech said this is normal in the
winter. He checked the Auxilary heat and it does work. He explained
that it is only supposed to come on if the temperature is 2 degrees or
more from the target temperature. If this is the case it seems to me
that the Auxilary heat would NEVER be used as the heat pump itself will
activate as soon as the temperature falls 1 degree below the setting.
My question is does the Auxilary heat work by temperature or should it
help the heat pump reach the desired temperature if it knows it will
take an hour to get back to the deired temp. If I set the temperature 2
degrees or more higher the Aux heat kicks in, but if I leave it at 65
constantly it never comes on regardless of the outdoor temp. Is this
normal?? I just want to make sure it's working the way it's supposed to
be! Thanks for any advice!

It's normal.

If it is getting down to the low teens/single digits, it WILL run
constantly. Hopefully the aux heat will cycle and not run constantly
too.....