ADC (T2000?) Changes to Economy Recovery

Support
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1

Back In Nov, there was an update which amongst other things, added the Emergency Heat feature to the selectable ADC modes.

I also just realized they also changed the way the Economy Recovery works.

Economy recovery goes by the “heating differential” setting, and the way it used to work is say it is set for a 5° F differential; your Setpoint Target is 68°, If the temp drops below 5° F (62° F) Staged heat (or Aux heat) kicks in, and then staged heat/ AUx turns off at 1° F from Setpoint (67° F), and your Unit (HP), uses first stage heating to reach setpoint, and satisfy call for heat.

That isn’t the way it works now though.

Now, using the same variables as above, staging/Aux kicks in at 62° F, and then turns off at 63° F. Which is the heating differential (5° F from setpoint).

Least this is the way it works for me now. Something to keep in mind if you are using Economy recovery.

I have been comparing Monthly usage from last year (Dec-Jan) to this year’s bill. Last year with a regular tstat (Single stage electric HP with Aux: 15 min staging and 5° F differential on a three level, 2300 Sq Ft home), I used to have to keep the heat at 64° F, and my KW usage was 1910, this year, even with an electrical rate INCREASE, with the T2000 on Economy recovery, I have mostly kept the temp at a more comfortable 68°, and KW usage is down to 1535.

Economy recovery will actually save you money.

2

I haven’t noticed this myself, though I did set mine to comfort setting a few weeks ago.

I’ll verify with ADC.

3

I may never set mine to comfort. It got down to 10° F last night with a wind chill of -1° F, the Heat Pump pretty much ran nonstop, but temps stayed pretty much at setpoint. I am at my balance. I may be able to take the HP down to actual 0° F before the Economy recovery calls for AUX.

I did though, adjust my heating differential from 5° F to 3° F in anticipation.

4

Nice to see some hard user data to support the feature’s intent. Not a lot of immediate gratification with energy saving features.

5
I have been comparing Monthly usage from last year (Dec-Jan) to this year’s bill. Last year with a regular tstat (Single stage electric HP with Aux: 15 min staging and 5° F differential on a three level, 2300 Sq Ft home), I used to have to keep the heat at 64° F, and my KW usage was 1910, this year, even with an electrical rate INCREASE, with the T2000 on Economy recovery, I have mostly kept the temp at a more comfortable 68°, and KW usage is down to 1535.

For further comparative purposes, with the HVAC shutoff, average household KW usage (everything is electric) is around 900/month.

Comfort Vs. Economy:

Heat strips (AUX) 208/230V @ 59.9A
split HP 208/230V @ 21.1A

HP uses approx. 4.8 kwh, whereas HP w/ AUX is approx 18.5 kwh (AUX heat strips are approx 13.7 kwh alone, both strips fully activated)

Running HP continuously for say 8 hours is cheaper than running the HP w/AUX for 3 hours.

HP: 8x4.8= 38 kwh
AUX/HP: 3x18.5= 55 kwh

6

comparison post above updated with info (hopefully calculations are correct)

7

Yes, for confirmation purposes, ADC states this is the expected operation of Economy.

8

Awesome. It is gonna catch some Users off guard though, and ADC isn’t very good at clarifying the advanced settings (a recent one being confusion over how the circulate settings function).

If ADC would just stop circle jerking and get on the ball and fix the last few remaining bugs, I will be satisfied. (FIX BUGS BEFORE ADDING NEW FEATURES)