A âÂÂSmart Recoveryâ âÂÂLearningâ thermostat would be able to determine at what time your system would have to turn on to reach your desired set point and hour of day without engaging the backup. The backup is called for whenever there is a demand for heat and the temperature differential between temperature and set point is 2 degrees or greater. This âÂÂSmart Recoveryâ only works with programmed setbacks if IâÂÂm not mistaken.

As described, your thermostat is behaving as it should.

SR

I agree with above post. Unless you use setbacks, I would leave well enough alone.

IMO

I think the OP wants to be able to push up the thermostat 4-5 degrees during any given night and not have the auxiliary heat on until the thermostat is satisfied. Other than that there are no set back periods.

A possible solution would be to install an thermostat which has an external temperature sensor. You can then lock out the auxiliary heat whenever the outside temperature is above a setting you can program. A thermostat like the Honeywell Vision Pro could do this. A typical outdoor temperature setting would be 35 degrees. You would have to experiment what temperature works well with your heat pump. The drawback is it will take longer to raise the temperature, but you will save some money by not using the electric heat strips.

A 4-5 degree setback on heating or cooling is too much for a Heat Pump and especially if HP is very close on BTUs to the load calc design temperatures. I would never recommend that.

I would also suggest false economy as well. Using heat strip thermostat would be satisfied fast. Without heat strip heat pump might struggle to recover and run continuously for hours. Then there is the comfort factor to take into consideration.

IMO

My question is answered. Thanks.