I have a heat pump thermostat. How is it different from a gas furnace stat?
In terms of programming they’re usually the same as any other. But unlike an average gas furnace, a heat pump typically has two stages of heat. The first is from the heat pump. It can be thought of as an air conditioner in reverse. The second is electric heat strips that reside in the air handler. Heat from the heat pump typically costs less than half that of heat from the electric strips. Some electronic heat pump thermostats have two lights or some other indicator to tell you when each stage is functioning. Keeping the second stage off will save you money. Typically the second stage activates when you raise the thermostat setting more than a couple degrees higher than the current room temperature.
