Emergency heat, also known as backup heat, EM heat, or auxillary heat is a secondary heat source. This secondary heat is used to help your heat pumps performance when it can’t keep up with frigid Maryland temperatures and usually will be automatically engaged when it needs it.

The secondary heat source can also be used alone as Emergency heat when the heat pump needs to be serviced. In this case, you can use the manual switch on your thermostat to switch over the Emergency heat. This is recommended only when your heat pump portion is not working, and only until you can get your heat pump serviced. The Emergency heat is much more expensive to run than your heat pump, and will continue to run until it is switched off again, so you don’t want to use it for long periods of time.