#5 In heat pump mode, can it also manage/maintain indoor
humidity automatically, or do you have to manually switch it
back and forth between modes?
In heat pump mode, the upper coils get hot to keep the heat
in the room (and the lower section gets cold to send cold
air out the window). While in AC mode or "Dehumidify", the
upper coils get cold to cool the room air (with the cold
attracting the moisture to produce condensation and thus
"dehumidify") and the lower coils are hot. You
can't "Dehumidify" in heat mode since you're indirectly
saying "I want the upper coils hot (for heating) and cold (for
dehumidifying) at the same time" which is impossible. So if
you really must do both, you'll need to switch modes every
few hours or such.
Note, to do effective "Dehumidifying" you MUST drain water
from the top port constantly. If you don't drain it from the
top port, then water drains onto the hot coils below,
evaporates, and goes right back into the room (since you
don't vent hot air in "Dehumidify' mode).
So manually draining from the top port is the only way to
divert the water somewhere else besides the air.