Hunter,
You have a roof air that is a heat pump? Would you happen to know the maker
of that so I can look it up? I'd truly like to see that!
Now the following is not intended to be boring, technical, or argumentative
at all or in nature so please take a moment to read and understand. Please,
because it is really simple and it is not my purpose to be interpreted as
tecky or "talking down" to anyone. I will keep it short.
A heat pump is a compressor driven air conditioner, usually using Freon 22
based just like any home unit, window unit, or RV roof air. It has a heat
position on the selector switch and a heat range on the thermostat like your
heat-strip unit. When selected to heat position a series of valves moves
that reverses the Freon flow causing the condenser and evaporator to reverse
flow and function. Heat is then produced where you are familiar with cold
and cold is produced outside where you are familiar with heat. The condenser
(think liquid) is the hot one. The evaporator (think gas) is the cold one.
This sort of a system is very complicated as the evaporator coil always
requires an expansion orifice which is called capillaries, expansion valve,
or orifice tube like in your car which is needed to rapidly expand the
compressed gas refrigerant to absorb heat which everybody refers to as
making cold. It is returned to a coil in now a hot liquid in "condensed
form" where the heat is removed thru a hot coil by the fan just like water
in the radiator of you car. To reverse this flow operation requires both
coils to have switching valves, expansion devices, and the plumbing for
both. It is a big complicated deal with a lot of moving parts and
electronics that can leak and fail.
A technically very sophisticated system, heat pumps have tended to fade away
from the initial fad introduction for several reasons. Those reasons are not
limited to significantly initial expense, complicated system and
electronics, limited service life failures wherein the system would lock up
in heat, cool, or both mode, and extremely high operating cost for heating.
We all know the expense of running an air conditioner in the hot summer. How
about that same expense all winter too? The most common application I have
seen and worked on for heat pump units is for residential application. That
was usually a seeking of some relief for electric coil central heating.
Those were always for subdivisions and areas that had no access to natural
gas or oil home heating.
Not outside the realm of possibility, a roof air would become rather big in
size to accommodate the plumbing and switching valves that I have seen and
worked with on every heat pump unit. It would be horribly expensive.
I would sure like to internet search and see any brand RV roof air heat pump
unit. I am not of course talking about the many brands of package units
including common heat pumps on top of buildings such as apartments. So
please let me know the brand and model number if possible for your RV roof
air heat pump because I really want to see that. Thanks Hunter.
-Eddie-
Houston, TX