The Hearse Ride...

Last week when it was in the low 20's here in central Florida, I became painfully aware that the heat pump system on my house was unable to heat at degrees below 35. I had a specialist come out and look at it, and was told that the auxiliary heating system (heat strips) were 5 amp, and perhaps 10 amp strips would do a better job.
I was quoted a $300.00 installation fee, and verbally agreed to have it done.

3 days later the specialist called and said the price was actually $500.00, and I backed out ... because for that price I could buy 3 oil radiators to heat the entire house, with hundreds left over to pay the slight increase in the power bill, and money left over for whatever.

It had occurred to me that we have never had this problem before, and it has been cold down here before. So I took a closer look at the heating system, removing the skirting to gain access to the crawl space, and low and behold, the cold air return duct was disconnected from the heat pump. So during those 23 degree mornings, the auxiliary heating couldn't handle heating non-heated air continuously.

So I hooked it back up for the meantime,since it's supposed to freeze here again later this/next week. It will have to be worked on, and I suppose cheap-o me will be the one working on it.

It's those damned cats trying to get under the house through the gaps around the heat pump unit. Well, I'll electrify chicken wire if it keep my heat/air system intact.