Orlando parks getting ready for cold temps

I didn't put this in as news, but thought it was worth a share. Nothing us Ohioans that have ever been to Cedar Point or Geauga Lake in early May or late October haven't dealt with:

https://www.wesh.com/articl...s/70204766

And as a native Northeast Ohioan, I love the idea of Gulf Effect Snow:

https://www.wfla.com/weathe...-bay-area/

I was laughing with a friend the other day about times in our lives we went to the Orlando parks in February and got caught by cold temps. Once at Disney it was 30 degrees and I had basically packed shorts and tees, and we had similar stories.

On our first family vacation to WDW almost 30 years ago the temps went down to the 20s and teens at night and we were in no way prepared.

I have been here since 2008 and this will be the coldest it's gotten in those 17 and a half years. One of the news sites has a list of past Central Florida "snow events" and I remember the one from 2010. Somewhere on an old phone or laptop I have photos of my windshield covered in a light dusting.

I was at Epcot yesterday, and many of the flower beds were already covered. There were places dominated by white sheets across the landscaping.

Poking around some of the "fan" sites it looks like man of the big outdoor coasters at IOA, Seaworld & Busch got to pretend they were at Cedar Point and close midday for high winds/low temps. The IOA water rides closed early as well and I can't imagine they'll even open tonight.

The temp in Orlando right now is 35 and feels like is 26, and it's supposed to keep dropping overnight.

Florida Snow Tracker

24 at 8 a.m. here. I learned that my Nest thermostats have a setting to use "alt heat" below 35, which isn't something my systems even have. So they both ran continuously for eight hours using a lot of electricity ($12 worth) but not really heating, because it didn't engage the heat pumps. I found the "never use alt heat" setting, but it's only 66 up in here now. In my defense, I had seen the setting, but never thought it would get below 35 so I ignored it.

Up here in Ohio, my electric heat pump has been running non stop since last Saturday when temps dropped. This is the longest its run continuously since it was put in 5 years ago, but it still keeps doing its thing and keeping up with heat. It's wild when the coils run and see how sky high my Demand Miser goes (14kWh), but it does it in bursts. Still way cheaper to run than space/baseboard heaters.

Someday I'll get out of here. I'd gladly take a 'feels like 26' It's been a couple of weeks since we've felt that.

The heat pumps are pretty efficient, especially the newer one (upstairs) we installed about a year ago, because it's two-stage. Just squeaked in a tax credit with that one, too. With both running right now, it's doing about 5.2 kW. Again, not even sure what was "on" before fixing it this morning, but they were doing 10 kW continuously, and it had used 80 kWh by the time I woke up.

Seeing the videos of snow flurries in some of the Orlando suburbs made me smile. After some of the summers we have had in the past five years I'm actually enjoying a few days of this!

Going to be colder tomorrow morning than this morning here in South Florida, and this morning was cold enough. Stunned iguanas all around.

I saw a parked car with these small icicles this morning around 11am and had to get a photo. It just screamed Ohio winter

Thoughts and prayers from Ohio.

It was 39 degrees in Ft Lauderdale today and for the first time, I gave the outdoor airport workers a pass for dressing like eskimos when it dips below 65.

Single digits here in WV. My recently installed heat pump hasn't kicked off for days. How does it work? I read it takes the heat out of the cold air. That doesn't make any sense. But my bill has been much lower since I had it put in, so I shrug.

I've been seeing videos from Nags Head (My new favorite vacation spot) and Florida. Snow and sandy beaches? The juxtaposition is apocalyptic.

19 degrees here in Mexico.

(That's 66 F to you all.)

LostKause:

How does it work? I read it takes the heat out of the cold air. That doesn't make any sense.

It works the same as your fridge. Heat energy passes over the coils, transferring to the coolant inside, and that coolant is pumped to the other coils where it dissipates. AC works the same but in reverse.

Jeff:

Nest thermostats have a setting to use "alt heat" below 35, which isn't something my systems even have. So they both ran continuously for eight hours using a lot of electricity ($12 worth) but not really heating, because it didn't engage the heat pumps.

Trying to understand what the alt heat means. Is that something like an electric heater that would kick on when it gets below 35 outside? In your case it says both ran continuously - what is both? Without an alternate system what was running?

Shades, that's how my emergency heat (I think Jeff is saying the same thing) works on mine. There are electric coil strips in my air handler that provide heat. Right now, mine cycles back and forth on normal operation and emergency heat when the outdoor unit defrosts.

And yes, heat pump takes the principles of Air Conditioning and reverses the flow of refrigerant. It gets compressed in the outdoor unit. The refrigerant gathers temperature outside, even in this cold weather, and when is decompressed, the reaction is refrigerant in a gas form that is heated and sent back inside to the air handler.

As I understand it, the alt heat would be used if you have a dual fuel system. Electric and fossil fuel of some sort. Electric is used if its not below 35 outside. If its below 35, fossil fuel is used to heat. Heat pumps are efficient but not as effective at lower temps (from what I have seen--I have gas furnace and dedicated air conditioning in my house). Would expect that its mainly people in northern latitudes who have dual fuel systems. Though sounds like certain thermostats default to assuming you do.

Correct. My heat pump heats the house until around 38, then it will work in tandem with the gas furnace. If it's really cold like it is now it switches to just use the gas furnace. It's also my AC.

Fun fact. When I moved into my house 15+ years ago everyone who looked at the furnace said that it only has a few years left.