Heat Strips Explained: Backup Heating for Florida Heat Pumps

Understanding heat strips backup heating florida starts with a small surprise many Space Coast homeowners discover during their first cold snap: the warm air coming from the vents is not always made the way they assume. Across Brevard County, most homes heat with an electric heat pump, and tucked inside that system is a set of electric heat strips that serve as backup. They rarely run, they draw real electricity when they do, and misunderstanding them leads to higher winter bills than necessary. At Inlet Mechanical, we explain how heat strips work so you know what your system is doing on those chilly Palm Bay and Melbourne mornings.

What Heat Strips Are and Where They Live

Heat strips are electric resistance heating elements, similar in principle to the coils in a toaster, installed inside the air handler of a heat pump system. When current passes through them they glow hot, and the blower pushes air across them to warm it directly. Unlike the heat pump itself, which moves existing heat from outdoor air into your home, heat strips create heat from electricity on the spot. That difference is the whole story behind how and when they should run.

Because they make heat rather than move it, strips are far less efficient than the heat pump for the same warmth. A heat pump can deliver several units of heat for each unit of electricity it consumes, while a heat strip delivers roughly one. That is exactly why they are designed as a backup rather than the main heater. On the Space Coast, where the heat pump can handle nearly all our mild winter on its own, the strips are meant to fill in only during the coldest stretches and are wired into the rest of your residential HVAC system to do just that.

When Heat Strips Are Supposed to Turn On

In a properly set up system, heat strips engage in a few specific situations. The most common is when outdoor temperatures fall low enough that the heat pump cannot pull enough warmth from the air to keep up with demand, typically when it dips into the 30s here. The thermostat senses the home is losing ground and brings the strips on to make up the difference quickly.

They also activate during defrost. When a heat pump runs in cold, damp conditions, frost can form on the outdoor coil, and the system briefly reverses to melt it. During that defrost cycle the strips warm the indoor air so you do not feel a blast of cool air from the registers. The third trigger is a large thermostat jump, such as bumping the setting up several degrees at once, which signals the system to call for fast supplemental heat. On the Space Coast, where cold mornings are few and brief, these moments are uncommon, so a system running its strips frequently is worth investigating. The ENERGY STAR program’s guidance on air-source heat pumps notes how thoughtful thermostat use keeps backup heat from running more than it should.

Why Heat Strips Drive Up Winter Bills

Here is where homeowners feel the difference in their wallet. Because heat strips consume electricity at roughly a one-to-one ratio for the heat they produce, running them often is the most expensive way to heat a home. A single cold week where the strips run more than they should can noticeably bump an electric bill, which is why the occasional surprise on a January statement traces back to backup heat working overtime.

The Emergency Heat Setting Trap

Many thermostats have an emergency heat mode, and it is one of the most misunderstood buttons in the house. Flipping it on forces the system to heat using the strips alone and bypass the efficient heat pump entirely. It exists for the rare case where the heat pump has failed, not as a way to warm the house faster. We regularly find homeowners who left it on through a cold spell and paid for it, so we explain that it should stay off unless the heat pump genuinely stops working.

Thermostat Habits That Help

Small, gradual thermostat adjustments keep the heat pump in charge and the strips at rest. Avoiding big jumps and letting the system warm the home steadily is the simplest way to hold down winter costs. We walk homeowners through this whenever we are out for heating services, because behavior matters as much as equipment here.

Signs Your Heat Strips Are Running Too Much

Since strips are meant to be a rare backup, a few clues suggest yours are working harder than they should. A winter electric bill that spikes well beyond your summer cooling cost is the clearest signal, since on the Space Coast heating should be the cheaper season. Air from the vents that feels unusually hot, rather than the gentle warmth a heat pump produces, can mean the strips are carrying the load. A breaker that trips during heating or a faint burning-dust smell on first use after months of cooling is also worth noting.

Several underlying issues can force the strips on unnecessarily. Low refrigerant leaves the heat pump unable to extract enough warmth, so the strips compensate constantly. A miswired or poorly configured thermostat may bring them on at the wrong temperature threshold. A dirty filter or failing component can hobble the heat pump in the same way. When we investigate high winter bills for Brevard homeowners, these are the places we look first, because the fix is usually correcting the heat pump rather than accepting expensive strip heat as normal.

Keeping the Backup as a Backup

The goal with heat strips is simple: keep them in the supporting role they were built for. That means making sure the heat pump is healthy enough to carry the everyday heating load, the thermostat is configured to call for strips only when truly needed, and you are not leaving emergency heat engaged out of habit. When all three line up, the strips quietly cover the handful of genuinely cold Space Coast hours each winter and stay out of the way the rest of the time.

During routine maintenance we check refrigerant charge, confirm the thermostat’s backup-heat settings make sense for our climate, and verify the strips themselves are sound and wired correctly. Because Brevard winters are so short, a well-tuned heat pump should rarely need the strips at all, and a system that depends on them too often is telling you something needs attention. We would rather find and fix that cause than have you pay for resistance heat you should not need.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are heat strips the same as my furnace?

Not quite. A furnace usually burns gas to create heat, while heat strips are electric resistance elements inside a heat pump’s air handler that warm air by passing electricity through them. In most Brevard homes there is no gas furnace at all, just the heat pump and its backup strips. The strips serve a similar supplemental purpose but work differently and only run during the coldest spells.

Should I use the emergency heat setting in winter?

Generally no. Emergency heat forces your system to run on the strips alone and bypass the efficient heat pump, which makes it the most expensive way to heat your home. It is meant only for situations where the heat pump has actually failed. On the Space Coast, leaving emergency heat on through a normal cold snap can noticeably raise your electric bill, so keep it off unless the heat pump stops working.

Why is my heat blowing but my bill is high?

Often the heat strips are running more than they should. That can stem from low refrigerant, a misconfigured thermostat, a clogged filter, or emergency heat left on. Because strips consume electricity roughly one-to-one for the heat they make, frequent use drives bills up fast. We check the heat pump’s charge and the thermostat settings first, since correcting those usually returns heating to the efficient heat pump.

Do I need heat strips at all in Florida?

Most heat pump systems here include them, and they are worth having for the occasional morning that drops into the 30s, as well as for keeping air warm during defrost cycles. The key is that they stay a rarely used backup rather than the main heat source. With a healthy heat pump and sensible thermostat habits, a Brevard home leans on its strips only a handful of hours each winter.

If your winter electric bills look higher than they should or your heat feels off, our team at Inlet Mechanical can find out whether your strips are working overtime and fix the cause. We will get your efficient heat pump back in charge so the backup stays in the background. Call us at (321) 723-0858 or explore our heating services for the Space Coast.

Written & Reviewed By

Inlet Mechanical Team

The Inlet Mechanical team brings over 85 years of combined experience in HVAC, plumbing, and mechanical construction across Florida. Our licensed professionals hold Florida Mechanical HVAC License (CMC1250858) and Florida Plumbing License (CFC1433105), along with EPA Section 608 certifications. Based in Brevard County, we serve residential, commercial, and industrial clients with expert knowledge of Florida building codes, climate-specific HVAC solutions, and local plumbing requirements. Every article is reviewed by our licensed technicians to ensure accuracy and practical value for Melbourne-area homeowners and businesses.

Last Updated: June 20, 2026