It’s the age-old debate right across the country, should you leave your heat pump on all the time or only turn it on while you are at home?
As the nights draw in and weather gets colder, it’s tempting to leave your heat pump on all day. But relying on this heating method is likely to mean unnecessarily high power bills.
No heating appliance should be used 24 hours a day. Common sense tells you that if you leave an appliance running the whole day, you can expect your power bills to rise significantly. Clever use of a heat pump is using it as required.
If you are not at home during the day, there is no need to run your heat pump all day long. If you’re out for most of the day and have good insulation throughout your home, a couple of hours in the morning and a few hours in the evening should suffice. To ensure the best use of your heat pump and the heat you generate, make sure your home is insulated and your heat pump is the right size for the area you want to heat. You should also choose a heat pump with a high energy efficiency rating such as a Mitsubishi Electric heat pump.
For example, when running a 3.5kW heat pump for a couple of hours in the morning and four hours in the evening you could expect to rack up around $40.50 (including GST) in power usage per month. Compare this to running a similar wattage bar heater for the same period of time, which would cost you a whopping $141.75 per month!
If you are at home for most of the day, then you may choose to run your heat pump at a constant temperature on heating, say about 18–22°C, so that you are always comfortable during the day. Heat pumps are clever and will sense when the room is naturally warmed by the sun and will stop heating if not required. The heat pump will then start heating again automatically if the room temperature falls.
If you’re looking for an energy efficient heat pump that allows you to set daily timers for turning on and off, consider a Mitsubishi Electric heat pump. One of the awesome features of Mitsubishi Electric heat pumps is the ability to set a daily time to turn your heat pump on at a specific time. When you go to bed at night, instead of turning the unit off with the ON/OFF power button, press the TIMER ON button. Now you can select the time that you would like the unit to turn on in the morning by using the up and down arrow buttons. You can do this again during the day if you are going out and would like the unit to turn on before you arrive home. We suggest that you use the Timer function to have the heat pump turn on around the time you lose the sun or 30 minutes before you are expected to return home.
In addition to this, most heat pumps will have a 24 hour timer which allows you to program your heat pumps operation for the day. Mitsubishi Electric heat pumps offer a 7 Day Controller which allows up to four settings per day. This means that you can plan your heat pump’s operation for an entire week! Ensuring you stay comfortable in your home without wasting both time and money.
Alternatively, make sure you install a heat pump with built in Wi-Fi control. All Mitsubishi Electric heat pumps can be purchased with built-in Wi-Fi Control. This gives you the freedom to manage your heat pump(s) through your smartphone, tablet or online account, no matter where you are or what time of day it is. On the way home, running late, coming home early, or even when you’re in a different country, Wi-Fi Control offers innovative real time management to suit your lifestyle. This offers more than being able to simply pre-heat or pre-cool rooms before you arrive home. Wi-Fi control opens up a new world of truly personalised comfort.
Don’t forget that it’s not always the best option to turn your heat pump up to max when you arrive home to a cold house. This does not compensate for a day turned off as a heat pump should not be operated like a radiant heater. Turning your heat pump up to 28°C when you get home will not make the room warm up any faster. In fact, it will use more energy as the heat pump attempts to absorb energy to achieve this unrealistic temperature. By setting the temperature to what is actually required, the heat pump will respond in the most efficient way and will reach this temperature quickly and continue to maintain it – without any further adjustment. We recommend a temperature between 18–22°C for a comfortable environment. If you prefer your home on the warmer side in winter then we suggest 22°C. Keep your curtains closed while the heat pump is in Heating Mode, to ensure that warm air is retained inside the room.
Similarly when it comes to running your heat pump throughout the night, you should consider that your body does not have the same sort of temperature requirements as it does during the day. If you like your environment to stay nice and warm then you could run the heat pump overnight at a lower temperature than you would run it during the day for example between 16–18°C. Reducing the temperature before you go to sleep at night will ensure that you are not using excessive power to maintain a high temperature that you are not awake to enjoy.
It’s the same advice when you’re looking to cool down your home during the summer months. Pre-cooling a room is not recommended. With summer cooling we recommend you use the heat pump only when you feel too warm and for shorter periods of time. This will ensure that you are not experiencing larger than desired power bills whilst maintaining comfort levels.
Cleaning your heat pump regularly ensures optimum operation by reducing unnecessary power consumption; increasing energy efficiency and limiting exposure to condensation.
For indoor units, we recommend cleaning your heat pump filters with every seasonal change. You can do this yourself by using a domestic vacuum cleaner with a small brush attachment.
We recommend cleaning your outdoor unit every 6 months. You can do this yourself by clearing any rubbish, plant matter or debris from around the unit. Wash the outdoor unit and coil with a detergent (car wash liquid is ideal, do not use other detergent i.e. dishwashing liquid) and hose down afterwards. It is also important that you do not place any outdoor furniture, plants or ornaments on or around your outdoor unit. Anything that compromises the airflow around the outdoor unit will compromise its performance.
We hope we helped you understand whether you should leave your heat pump on all the time and appreciate you coming to us for advice on the topic.
Should you encounter any issues with your heat pump, please contact us at DC Installation Services. Our team of heat pump technicians are ready to answer your questions, provide repairs and help with heat pump cleans and services. Call our team on 0800 324 678. If you prefer, you can organise for us to visit to provide you with a comprehensive heat pump clean.