Hvav

Is there a rule of thumb to determine the amount of BTU’s a heat pump system equipped with a couple of emergency heating coils should produce? Is the rated amount encoded in the units model #? I have yet to see it spelled out on any mfg. info. tag(s). When I kick in the emergency heat on the thermostat, the electric heating coils each draw around 40 amps., but I don’t have any idea how many BTU’s are being generated. Thanks in advance for any help.

I’m no expert on electric heating. Usually electric heat is measured in Kilowatts. I think it is somewhere between 3500 and 4000 btu’s per Kilowatt. Let me know if the Kilowatt rating is labeled.

Charles is correct–electric furnaces don’t BTU, they KW.

***Amps X Volts = Watts
Watts X 3.413 = BTU/Hr

****As a side note; HEAT PUMPS are sized for the Air conditioning load and not the heat load, otherwise the air conditioner will be oversized and that’s another whole story.
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Just got a Testo 435-2. Has 2 wireless thermometer probes with RH% heads measures airflow and calculates btu’s cooling or heating. Busy reading the instruction manual on it. Then a few test runs on my furnace and a/c

I would appreciate it if you would get back to me on whether you like or dislike the new testing equipment you purchased. Thanks, Carl Durfee