A lot of people have had heat pumps installed in the last few years, which is great: They are efficient, safe and easy to use. Unfortunately, some people have been left in the dark about how to use their heat pump once it’s been installed. If they weren’t home when the installation was finished, or the installers did not return afterwards to set the system up, they can be left without the information they need to operate the heat pump correctly.
Whatever the reason, it is important to know how to operate the heat pump correctly, as it can keep you safe and save you money!
Heat Pump Instructions – How To Run My Heat Pump?
Set Them And Forget Them?
For Efficiency – Heat pumps are pretty sophisticated, and the exterior (or condenser unit) is constantly in communication with the inside head unit. They are making minor adjustments to the heat pump parameters in order to keep the heat pump running as efficiently as possible. Most of the top heat pump companies are in constant ‘battle’ with each other to build the most efficient heat pump, and the algorithm that adjusts the heat pump parameters is a big part of this.
If you leave the heat pump running, it can adjust to conditions to run at top efficiency.
It’s a bit like a gas vehicle. If you turned the engine off at each stop sign, it would take more gas to start it up again!
For Mold – Even when the system is not actively heating or cooling, the heat pump will kick the fan in periodically to keep the unit dry. This is important for a number of reasons, including keeping the unit free of mold!
How Can I Reduce Mold In My Heat Pump?
Can I switch My Heat Pump Off?
Should I leave My Heat Pump On? – If you do not need the heat pump heating or cooling for a period of time (like you are going to bed, or away for a few days – What we usually recommend is just turn the unit down or up, so it can still run the fan to dry the system. If you are going away for a long period of time, of course it is ok to turn the unit off. We would usually recommend you run it on ‘heat’ for a while to dry the system out before switching it off and leaving for a period of time.
Dehumidify Vs AC – The Heat Pump Debate!
Is Dehumidifier Mode Better Than Air Conditioning? – Some people ask if the dehumidifier mode on the heat pump uses less energy than the air conditioning mode. There is some truth to this rumour. Basically, when the air is dry, you will feel cooler at a warmer temperature! (if that makes sense!) Because the air is dry, the body feels cooler, so technically you don’t have to cool the air to as low a temperature, therefore saving energy. However, although the jury is still out, we feel the savings are pretty negligible.
Dry Or AC – We like to run them on dehumidify to keep the air in the house nice and dry for building maintenance purposes. People have also reported they prefer the air on dehumidify, and don’t like it on air conditioning mode. So, run the unit on whichever mode suits you!
Heat, Cool or Auto Mode?
Auto Mode Can Waste Energy & Cost You Money! – If you leave the heat pump on ‘auto’ mode, it will automatically adjust to keep the temperature that you set. This sounds great right? It can be if you really just like, or need, the temperature to be at a specific setting. However, it will cost you slightly more money to keep it there as it may be doing an amount of heating in the summer and an amount of cooling in the winter to maintain a specific temperature! Lets imagine its the winter, and you have the heat pump set to 21 deg celsius during the day, but you turn it down to 17 at night as you like it cooler. If the heat pump is set to strictly ‘Heat’ mode, during the night it will just let the temperature fall to 17 deg. However, if it’s set to ‘auto’ mode, it will start actively cooling to get the temperature down to 17 deg as quickly as possible, hence cooling in the winter!
For this reason, we recommend leaving the heat pump in cooling mode for the summer and heating mode for the winter!
Seen what can be in a heat pump after a while?……
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Summary
So there we are. We would recommend setting the heat pump to whichever mode it needs for the season, and leaving it on as much as possible in order to save money on your electric bills and keep running as safely and efficiently as possible.
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