Using your heating controls (heat pumps)

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If you have a heat pump installed in your home, you may find the system works slightly different from other forms of heating. The most noticeable change is that the heat pump can be slower to react to any changes that you make to your controls. The benefit of this is that once you have them set correctly, you shouldn’t need to adjust them!

This is part two of our three-part guide to heat pumps. Check out the other guides in the series

Part one – Introduction to heat pumps

Part three – Heat Pump Myth Buster

 

Heating regimes

The main change you will need to make after having a heat pump installed is adjusting your ‘heating regime’. This is when you use your heating, how often you have it on and what temperature you heat your home to.

Heat pumps operate at lower temperatures (usually around 35-55°C) compared to gas boilers that operate at 60-80°C. This means your radiators will not be as warm as before. However, it is still warm enough to heat your home.

It’s likely that as part of a heat pump installation, the installer added larger radiators to help your home adjust to the new heating system.

 

Using your heating controls efficiently

Heat pumps respond to temperature changes more slowly and they are designed to run for longer periods. Using them as intended will help save you energy and reduce your carbon footprint. Attempting to change the temperature rapidly will consume more electricity.

 

Thermostat

During the winter, we recommend you run your heat pump to maintain a temperature of between 18-20°C throughout the day. If you would like to cool your home at night, we recommend setting it around 2°C lower than your daytime temperature.

To help your heat pump run efficiently you should ensure it is set no lower than 15°C at any time during the winter.

 

Radiator valves & zone controls

Like with gas central heating, radiators should usually have individual Thermostatic Radiator Valves to control the temperature in the room. If you have underfloor heating, you may have zone controls around the home.

heat pumps are designed to run at lower temperatures so as a general rule of thumb we would recommended not using these controls.  . Leaving them fully open means the heat pump can work as efficiently as possible.

If you have unused rooms, you may want to turn the controls down slightly. However, it can often be more efficient to simply leave them open.

 

Programmer

You should never completely switch off your heat pump. Raising the temperature back to desired levels after the system has been off requires a lot of energy. It can sometimes take several days for the home to arrive at its desired temperature.

Instead, your programmer should only be used to adjust routines for specific events:

Night mode: You should reduce your temperature by no more than 2°C compared to daytime and never lower than 15°C.

Holiday mode: The system lowers the temperature while you are away to prevent pipes from freezing. Remember when you are back it may take a couple of days to get to the desired temperature again.

Summer mode: The heating won’t switch on but the hot water will still be heated. As an alternative, you could reduce the thermostat temperature and slightly increase this as you move through autumn into winter.

If you decide to adjust the settings, you should leave it a couple of days before making further changes to allow the system to run efficiently.

 

Main Control Unit

Your heat pump will have a main control unit, usually located in a cupboard. Only a trained engineer should adjust this as it controls the heat pump’s internal operation, adjusting these settings could cause your heat pump to run inefficiently, costing you money and impacting how well your home is heated.

 

Hot Water Tank

Your hot water tank should heat your water to around 40-50°C.

Your tank may also have an immersion heater with a ‘boost’ function that can heat up hot water if you run out. This is likely to be expensive to use.

Your hot water tank should be designed to run a ‘hygiene cycle’ at least once a week. This heats the water to 60°C to kill any bacteria in the tank. You may notice a spike in your energy consumption relating to this cycle.

 

Insulation check

If you have a heat pump installed, you should ensure your home is as well insulated as possible. Heat pumps have a lower flow temperature than traditional heating and any heat loss can affect the efficiency of the appliance.

 

More advice

Would you like more advice on using your heating controls? Cosy Kingdom is a free and impartial energy advice service available to everyone living within Fife.

Our energy advisors can be contacted by: