Heat Pump Crankcase Heat Management

The need for this project arises from field studies that indicate crankcase heaters (CCHs) and other auxiliary loads may use almost half the total energy of heat pumps (HPs) installed in California. There is a particular concern that sometimes CCHs operate when unnecessary. The objective of this study is to evaluate potential solutions to the CCH energy consumption issue and quantify potential savings from identified solutions. The project team assigned a priority level of high for recommendations that may immediately provide energy and emissions reduction or quantify potential future savings; and low priority for recommendations that are dependent on the findings of additional research, or research that could support future measure calibration.