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| Thread ID: 134467 | 2013-07-03 23:33:00 | Heat Pump | Driftwood (5551) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 1347999 | 2013-07-04 08:30:00 | Yeah right, and certainly not in Taupo either. Mine is set on 20 at the moment but is struggling some days to keep us warm. End up turning it up to 22 some days! LL Forgot to say that it is an 8kw Daikin. LL |
lakewoodlady (103) | ||
| 1348000 | 2013-07-04 08:50:00 | The best way to save money though is to not heat the house when you are not home, unless you have exceptional insulation don't leave A/C running 24/7 if someone isn't home for a good portion of that time.I've never been sure if it was better to leave the heat pump running at 19 degC to maintain ambient temp, or just turn it on up high when you get home from work. Been trying both so it will be interesting to see my power bill for the last month. | Jen (38) | ||
| 1348001 | 2013-07-04 09:29:00 | Turning up the heat control will not produce any more heat, it will just carry on running until it reaches the setting. Earlier heat pumps used to switch on and off. This meant that the temperature range was high because the thermostat which is in the wall unit is controlled by the heat of the wall unit, not the room. Our new one keeps running so the fan keeps the air circulating, and the pump is regulated. It is quite accurate. At the moment the room temp is 22c and the thermostat is set at 23c. |
mzee (3324) | ||
| 1348002 | 2013-07-04 09:32:00 | I've never been sure if it was better to leave the heat pump running at 19 degC to maintain ambient temp, or just turn it on up high when you get home from work. Been trying both so it will be interesting to see my power bill for the last month. I've googled that exact question and done some reading before, unfortunately most sites I found are American and referring to cooling not heating but the principles are much the same. It seems using A/C for heating is less common over there. At any rate the consensus from government/council websites and energy companies as opposed to random people on forums (no offense guys :)) is that it's cheaper to turn it off if you will be away for more than a couple of hours but it's a hotly debated topic with many people arguing both sides. Alternatively if you leave it running drop the temperature a bit, no point keeping an empty house at 20 degrees 15-18 is comfortable enough and quickly heated up when you get home. My power company graphs my power usage and I can get down to hourly usage detail. I'm currently experimenting with whether it's cheaper to use my 1KW oil column heater with a thermostat in the bedroom or leave the door open and the heat pump in the lounge running. I should try to prove the A/C on or off debate while I'm at it. My bills gone up lately, I decided to be less stingy with the heat. Previously I would turn it off during the day and at night and use the timer to turn it on a half hour before I get up, lately I've been leaving it running at a lower temp over night and during the day - the bill has definately gone up. Have you ever heard the story where someone gets a heatpump installed because it's the "cheapest" form of heating and then gets a rude shock when the first power bill arrives and it's huge? My theory is that story (and I've heard it a few times) is from when people get a new unit, set the temp to something cosy, and leave it on 24/7. Efficient or not they can still suck 2KW or more of power at max and it adds up fast if left on. @ 2KW the worst case at $0.20 a KW/H is $288 in 30 days, in practice of course it won't draw full power all the time. Still, If you treat it like a 2KW Fan heater and only use it when you need to the power usage is much lower. |
dugimodo (138) | ||
| 1348003 | 2013-07-04 09:36:00 | I've never been sure if it was better to leave the heat pump running at 19 degC to maintain ambient temp, or just turn it on up high when you get home from work. Been trying both so it will be interesting to see my power bill for the last month. Does your heat pump have a timer? If so it would make far more sense to me to set the timer to turn it on quarter of an hour before you get home. If your room isn't nice and warm in that amount of time then something is not quite right, unless it is expected to heat the entire house up. Off-topic: why do Aucklanders even need heaters anyway? Big sooks. :p |
FoxyMX (5) | ||
| 1348004 | 2013-07-04 09:42:00 | Turning up the heat control will not produce any more heat, it will just carry on running until it reaches the setting. Not exactly I think, modern heat pumps can vary the heat output dynamically within a range which helps them be much more efficient. If I have mine set to 22 and it's a bit cool in the house so I crank it up to 32 (the highest setting) it goes from putting out a trickle of warm air because it's only trying to heat a couple of degrees to blasting hot air a high speed because it's trying to raise the temp by 12 or more. In other words the heat output tapers off as it nears the target so turning it up will in fact increase the heat output - at least until it nears the target again. In my case the 2KW/6KW (power in/heat out) is not really big enough to heat the whole house easily on a cold night so I have to set it a bit higher. I measure the temperature in my kitchen and it's always 3-5 degrees lower than the lounge - and they have a 1.5M permanent opening/doorway between them. |
dugimodo (138) | ||
| 1348005 | 2013-07-04 10:18:00 | Does your heat pump have a timer? If so it would make far more sense to me to set the timer to turn it on quarter of an hour before you get home. If your room isn't nice and warm in that amount of time then something is not quite right, unless it is expected to heat the entire house up. Off-topic: why do Aucklanders even need heaters anyway? Big sooks. :pHey, it was 2 deg C overnight recently! :p I do have a timer, but because of the open-plan layout it takes more than 15 mins to heat up the room unless you set it on high fan. |
Jen (38) | ||
| 1348006 | 2013-07-05 01:01:00 | Hey, it was 2 deg C overnight recently! :p Pffft I consider that to be a warm night. :p |
FoxyMX (5) | ||
| 1348007 | 2013-07-05 03:54:00 | At any rate the consensus from government/council websites and energy companies as opposed to random people on forums (no offense guys :)) is that it's cheaper to turn it off if you will be away for more than a couple of hours but it's a hotly debated topic with many people arguing both sides . Alternatively if you leave it running drop the temperature a bit, no point keeping an empty house at 20 degrees 15-18 is comfortable enough and quickly heated up when you get home . Excellent post - cos it confirms my own conclusions . :D I puzzle over the best way to use a heat pump too . When I'm at home its generally set to 18 - 20 degrees for the living area with doors closed to the bedrooms laundry etc . I've experimented with turning it off overnight and during the day when the house is empty . There is a woodburner too although not always going . The results as you might expect are completely weather dependant . On cool dry days/nights (say 6 -8 degrees) the heat pump warms the place quickly . However when there is a southerly wind or rain the house seems to become much colder and heating takes a long time . Also frosty nights have a similar effect . So I've adopted a practise of leaving the heat pump on at 12 degrees (or even 10) when the weather forecast is for damp and cold . This works . The house never gets really cold and more importantly it is dry . I seldom see condensation . If the weather is cold but calm, I just turn it off overnight and during the day . Have you ever heard the story where someone gets a heatpump installed because it's the "cheapest" form of heating and then gets a rude shock when the first power bill arrives and it's huge? Yes just yesterday . A couple had moved from a newish house to an older but well-insulated place, running two heat pumps . The first bill - $600 . They were nearly speechless . Where I suspect it all goes wrong (as you say) is people just set the temp at 18 and let it run 24/7 . My Daikin has a Home button (might be called Eco on others) whereby you set a low temp and press that button when you leave or go to bed . Very simple and useful . |
Winston001 (3612) | ||
| 1348008 | 2013-07-05 06:31:00 | So I've adopted a practise of leaving the heat pump on at 12 degrees (or even 10) when the weather forecast is for damp and cold. This works. The house never gets really cold and more importantly it is dry. I seldom see condensation. If the weather is cold but calm, I just turn it off overnight and during the day. I am going to have to dig out and read the manual again because if I set our Daikin heat pump below 17 or 18 degrees it starts pumping out cold air to cool the place down. :rolleyes: Ours pretty much stays set at 18 degrees when it is on and it is turned off overnight or when we go out. We ramped up the Batts in the attic and had double glazing installed four years ago so on nice sunny days we don't need to put the heater on until after 8pm and often not at all. |
FoxyMX (5) | ||
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