I have a Tranquility 27 5 ton unit and I noticed today after a very cold night when taking a look at the furnace that there was a small buildup of ice at the inlet connection going into the furnace.
Can anyone tell me if this is a problem?
 We measured the KWH consumed.
Looks to be about 80 without the auxilary kicking in.
We are mystified by the large power consumption of this unit and wondering if the unit is actually running properly.
The installer told us it would cost us $100.00 a month for electricity but it appears to be using much more than that.
We have turned off the low speed fan that ran constantly to come on automatic when the furnace comes on but not sure whether that is helpful in electrical savings or not?
Has anyone got any thoughts on these issues.

Which inlet? Are you talking about the entering water line?

Ice on water line implies low Entering Water Temperature. Low EWT reduces system capacity and efficiency. Turning off low speed fan might save ~ 3-5 kwh / day.

Is 80 kwh whole house or just unit?.

Where are you and how big is your house?

Is the ice on the line into the heat pump or the line out of the heat pump?

Is your loop vertical or horizontal?

How much colder was last night that normal?

It is 80 kwh just for the unit.

We live just north of Toronto.

The house is a 2,450 sq. ft bungalow

Is your loop vertical or horizontal?

It is a horizontal loop...It was quite a bit colder last night than usual but this is the 1st time I have checked for an ice buildup.
Is it possible there is not enough antifreeze in the loop?

The liquid in the loop is not freezing since the heat pump is still working. Since the temp of the loop is below 32°, the moisture in the air freezes on the outside of the pipe.

Since your loop is this cold, checking the anitfreeze would be a good idea. Damage to the heat exchanger can occur if the liquid freezes inside the heat pump. This is quite an expensive fix.

What there is not enough of is pipe in the ground.

P haskell,

How many feet of pipe do you have buried and how deep is it buried?

Our contract said there was supposed to be 4,200 ft loop but our neighbour claims that he came over and noticed they had done 3,000 feet which is supposed to be OK for a 5 ton unit I understand.
They were definetly down at least 6 feet