What is the Difference between Auxiliary Heat and Emergency Heat on my Heat Pump?

OK, so these terms are really used interchangeably. First “Auxiliary Heat”, “Strip Heat”, “Emergency Heat”, “Radiant Heat” are all used to reference the same heating mechanism; your electric heat strips that come with a heat pump.

I guess the only difference is that AUX is an ‘indicator’ on your thermostat that you are running the heat strips when the switch is set to HEAT.

This is to inform you that you are using the more expensive heating method of ‘radiant’ heat. Radiant heat is much like you see in plug-in space heaters, it is a coiled wire that becomes read hot and is used to warm the air. This light comes on in normal operation from time to time, so it really isn’t something to worry about if your system is in proper operating condition. Every few hours the heat pump needs to reverse itself and defrost the outside unit. While it is defrosting, the auxiliary heat comes on to prevent you from feeling cold air in your vents. Basically, the defrost mode is when the heat pump flips back to air conditioning to warm up the outside coil. So in order to avoid frigid air through your vents while this is happening, the heat strips are energized and you will see the auxiliary light come on.  Another time it may come on when the heat pump just isn’t strong enough to keep up with the outside temperature. This is normally below 40 degrees F. So the auxiliary heat comes on to assist the heat pump to maintain the set temperature. Here’s a caveat, if your heat pump is low on refrigerant, the strip heat may come more frequently and at higher outside temperatures. You may also detect low refrigerant if you happen to see your thermostat more than 2 degrees off of the set point. That is because the auxiliary heat does not get triggered until the thermostat and room temperature are about 3 degrees different. (See this article about refrigerant Leaks)