Heat pumps are great but if you have only have had a gas boiler before you may notice some differences. Here’s some hints and tips on how to get the most from your heat pump.
Your heat pump might be on when you don’t expect it
This is one of the most common reports from homeowners who have switched from a boiler to a heat pump. Heat pumps tend to work on a slow and steady approach to heating your home. Imagine your home is a balloon and the heat inside is the air. Because the home isn’t perfectly sealed, a small amount of the heat leaks out, just like a leaky balloon would. Your heat pump anticipates that and gently restores the heat required to keep you at the temperature you have requested.
If you have installed Homely then your heat pump might come on even when your home is at the temperature you have requested. It’s all down to which Homely mode you have selected (and the type of tariff you are on) but Smart+, our tariff optimisation service, will look for cheaper electricity periods and use these to slightly overfill the “balloon”. That means that you can avoid having to have your heat pump on at the more expensive peak times, as your home just returns to the desired temperature for when you have requested it.
Your radiators aren’t hot to the touch
This is also related to the slow and steady heating approach. You don’t need blisteringly hot radiators because the gentle input of heat is all that is required to maintain the cosy temperature you have requested. So, tepid radiators are perfectly normal.
Sometimes your heat pump doesn’t immediately respond to your requests
Heat pumps, like many things, don’t benefit from being rapidly turned on and off and on again. This “short-cycling” can have detrimental impact on the hardware and reduce the lifespan of the heat pump itself. Sometimes users can inadvertently request actions that would lead to short cycling and there are often processes in place to limit the impact of this. It is most likely the heat pump trying to protect itself. Just give it 30 minutes and try again.
We hope that helps ease any concerns regarding your heat pump. If you haven’t already then why not check out Homely, it’s a controller specifically designed for heat pumps and could help you achieve savings on your heating bills.
