Heat Pump Question (Cincinnati, Dayton: hardwood floors, new home, construction)

[Kelfly1]

I posted this on the Cincinnati forum, but just noticed there is a new Dayton forum too, so I hope this is OK to post in both places:

We are in a new home (new construction - we didn't have it built but we are the first owners). It has a heat pump with propane back up. Finished square feet is approx 5400 (2800 main floor, rest in the basement). As we have always had natural gas, forced air heat, I have a few questions:

The heat pump (same as the air conditioner) is VERY loud, and unfortunately right outside the master bedroom window. At times is vibrates so loudly it wakes us up. Is this normal? I was told that it is because it has to "defrost", and that is when it is exceptionally loud, but even when it is just running and not defrosting is still is quite loud.

Having natural gas in the past, we had always turned the heat down at night to about 65 - 66, and then had it go up to 70 during the day when we were home. It is nearly impossible to get this house to heat back up (could take 6 hours or more to go from 65 to 69-70). I was told by a professional that we cannot take the temp swing more than 2-3 degrees on a heat pump because it cannot get back to temp. An acquaintance that has a heat pump (without propane back up) says they take theirs over 5 degrees different at night and have no problems.

Horrible and constant loud "clicking" noise in the furnace room when the heat it on, I think in the duct work, that runs from downstairs furnace room to upstairs and the noise seems to accelerate and amplify by the time it gets upstairs. Unfortunatley, this is right outside the master bedroom, so that also is very annoying. The professional told me it is because of expanding and contracting duct work which is normal, but I've never lived in a house before that had this kind of annoyance.

Any advice and comments are appreciated. Thanks!

[dayton_ohio]

We have the same issues with our heat pump -- it's noisy, it vibrates a lot on start-up, and it struggles to warm up the house when the digital thermostat jumps up by 4-5 degrees. It's a couple years old. Our furnace also is quite loud, and it's right below our dining room, but we are in an older house with hardwood floors, which also amplifies the sound.

You could adjust your thermostat to gradually warm up the house -- set it for 65-66 degrees through 5am, then 67-68 degrees around 7am, and 69-70 degrees around 9am. That should allow the heat pump to catch up. You also could possibly run the propane furnace in the "emergency heat" mode if you really want the house to warm up quickly.

Your house might be too big for one heat pump. Maybe the best solution would be to add a second one (one for downstairs, one for upstairs)? A heating/AC company could help you assess your system requirements and whether what you have is normal or not.