Help for Heat Pump! (AC, tank, natural gas, electric)

[Raleigh27612]

I do NOT miss the expense of an oil tank - every time the heat ran in my northeastern home, the dollars added up faster than my commute fuel plus tolls! So now I am back a few years in my home state, and I have a heat pump. This appears to be a much more complex heating system...or perhaps I am HVAC challenged. I would not be surprised by the latter.

It vibrates when it turns on-- loud hum, as I am told is common. BUT, I went out to check it tonight and noted something I thought was odd, but maybe one of you who knows can fill me in on this feature. There is a vent on the side that is shooting out hot air!! I'm not trying to heat my yard, so...is this vent necessary for this natural gas/electric AC combo unit, or is this a 'Mayday ! Houston we have a problem!' kind of thing? The air is blowing fine in the house, nice and toasty, just curious if the air coming out the side is normal...

Thank you all,

[ShaneSA]

Mine does the same thing. It runs fine and all seems well. I always wondered why it does that but the HVAC man said it was a vent. No explanation. So I leave it alone. Maybe there is a better expalnation here.

[dedratermi]

Heat pump is actually a fairly simple system - it's basically your A/C system running in reverse. But it sounds to me like you have natural gas heat and not a heat pump. In that case the hot air is probably the exhaust from the gas burner. Is the loud hum and vibration coming from the outside box? If so it could be the draft inducer motor, which is basically a fan that brings fresh outside air into the burner - and the noise and vibration could mean that it's seen better days and might need to be replaced eventually. Nothing to be immediately concerned about, just something to be aware of.

Newer, more efficient gas heaters don't vent hot air - instead they have a secondary heat exchanger which wrings every last BTU out of the combustion process so that none is wasted out the vent.

[Barking Spider]

Its the exhaust vent for the gas heater - not to worry.

[Raleigh27612]

This is a 2001 model natural gas, so it sounds like I may need to start thinking about a replacement in the next year or so. Maybe get that energy efficient deduction if its still around. thank you one and all!

[underPSI]

Sounds to me like you have a gaspack instead of a heat pump. The heat coming out of the side is normal. The heat exchanger generally has a 10-year life span.