[gary_g]

I am on propane for emergency heat and was wondering if I would be wise to manually set back t-stat for this period while we are at work and sleeping.

Yes. A setback using your propane furnace will save you some $$.

The reason why you read that it is better not to set back using a heat pump is because the heat pump generally does not have the extra capacity to recover several degrees from the setback without using auxiliary heat. Aux heat is generally more expensive than the heat pump.

What is your lock-out temp for the heat pump currently set at?

 

[gary_g]

lockout is currently set at 28 degrees

Not a bad lock out temp. You should experiment a little and see if you could drop that by a degree or so, and find out if the heat pump can still keep up. The more you run the pump, and the less propane, the cheaper your operating costs.

Take care.