Heat pump control system with defrost cycle monitoring

A heating system comprising:

• supplemental heating means for supplying heat to an interior space,
• heat pump means for supplying heat to the interior space, said heat pump means having a heating mode of operation and a defrost mode of operation,
• control means including at least one thermostat having a sensor in the interior space for activating at least one of said supplemental heating means and said heat pump means into operation, and
• heat pump control override means connected to said heat pump means for detecting when said heat pump means is in its defrost mode and disabling said heat pump means from operating in its heating mode when the heat pump means is detected as operating in its defrost mode for a predetermined portion of a given cyclically recurring time interval,
• said override means including means for detecting the outside ambient temperature and disabling said heat pump means when the detected temperature is below a predetermined level, said means for detecting preventing reenablement of said heat pump means as long as the outside ambient temperature is detected as being below said predetermined level.

A heating system comprising:

• supplemental heating means for supplying heat to an interior space,
• heat pump means for supplying heat to the interior space, said heat pump means having a heating mode of operation and a defrost mode of operation,
• control means including at least one thermostat having a sensor in the interior space for activating at least one of said supplemental heating means and said heat pump means into operation, and
• heat pump control override means connected to said heat pump means for repeatedly interrogating said heat pump means to detect whether said heat pump means is in its heating mode or its defrost mode and registering the mode of said heat pump means at the time of each interrogation and disabling said heat pump means when the number of interrogations on which the mode of said heat pump means is registered as being in its defrost mode exceeds a predetermined percentage of total interrogations in a given cyclically recurring heating cycle.

A heating system comprising:

• supplemental heating means for supplying heat to an interior space, said supplemental heating means including a supplemental heat thermostat means for sensing the ambient temperature in the interior space and activating into operation said supplemental heating means in response to the sensed temperature falling below a first predetermined limit,
• heat pump means for supplying heat to the interior space, said heat pump means including a heat pump thermostat for sensing the ambient temperature of the interior space and being connected to a control means on said heat pump means, said control means activating into operation said heat pump means in response to the ambient temperature sensed by the heat pump means thermostat falling below a second predetermined limit, said first limit being lower than said second limit,
• said heat pump means having a heating mode and a defrost mode, and
• heat pump monitor and override means for detecting when the heat pump means is in its defrost mode and disabling said heat pump means when the heat pump means is detected as being in its defrost mode for a predetermined portion of a given cyclically recurring heating cycle.