Should Heat Pump be on Constantly?

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185 posts

Master Geek

#337419 2-Jun-2010 16:10

you might think i'm nuts but i won't let my daughter sleep in a cold room. its not how i want to raise my kids and something we have always done in winter since she was born. my daughter has never been sick, the odd sniffle but she is really healthy, a warm room at night might have helped. i will try and limit the use of the oil heaters though.

freitasm

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#337422 2-Jun-2010 16:19

beforenightfalls: you might think i'm nuts but i won't let my daughter sleep in a cold room. its not how i want to raise my kids and something we have always done in winter since she was born. my daughter has never been sick, the odd sniffle but she is really healthy, a warm room at night might have helped. i will try and limit the use of the oil heaters though.

Amem... It is ok to put some more clothes on, but the house shouldn't be 12c when you get up in the morning...

wellygary

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#337432 2-Jun-2010 16:32

- Dont leave the heat pump on over night, if there is no one in the room for 12 hours, you are simply wasting money to heat it,- set the timer so it comes on an hour or so before you all get up.

Do you know the wattage/size of the heatpump? also BTW: How big is the lounge area that the heat pump is keeping warm, is it single room, or is it open plan through to a dining/kitchen area,

Your oil heaters even on low, ( which I assume is product speak for about 1KW(unit)/hr,) will still chew up $$$, but dont bother using them for a short period of time as you spend most of your money heating up the oil and not much of the room.
IF you want to heat a room quickly (and then turn off) before you head off to bed, buy a cheap 2KW fan heater from the warehouse.

jaymz

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#337434 2-Jun-2010 16:37

Another thing you could look at is getting (or borrowing) a cent-a-meter (http://www.centameter.co.nz/)

I have one of these and they are so handy for finding out how much power you are using in real time.

They are great for monitoring things in your home, you can switch off all heaters, note the useage (cents per hour) and try turning on only the heat pump and see how much it uses.

At a guess those oil heaters will be using 30-40 cents an hour in power while on.

30c x 4 hours (assuming it is only heating half the time) = $1.20

Also, have you thought about a home ventilation system? setting it up to carry the warm air from one side of your home to the bedrooms? That way your rooms will be heated by one heater instead of three.

beforenightfalls

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Master Geek

#337458 2-Jun-2010 17:22

a home ventilation system would be awesome but there's no way we could afford it right now.

openmedia

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#337467 2-Jun-2010 17:46

freitasm:

Amem... It is ok to put some more clothes on, but the house shouldn't be 12c when you get up in the morning...

So how cold does your house get?

Back in the UK i've ha dmornings where you could easily see you breath before you got out of bed.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

beforenightfalls

185 posts

Master Geek

#337487 2-Jun-2010 18:56

i always had a really warm house when i lived in the uk, every room was warm, those were the days!

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jaymz

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#337542 2-Jun-2010 21:03

beforenightfalls: a home ventilation system would be awesome but there's no way we could afford it right now.

You could try do it on the cheap with floor standing fans pointed down the hallway on low

But this has moved a bit off topic from your first post, I can understand why it would use less power always on (does not need to heat a cold unit, then a cold room) but it is kinda half a dozen to one, 6 to the other in terms of savings.

it would depend on whether the power (and cost) of leaving it on 24/7 is greater or less than the power used to heat it up for short periods (couple of hours a day)

beforenightfalls

185 posts

Master Geek

#337651 3-Jun-2010 08:41

yes we'll see this afternoon when i check the usage. it was off overnight, it was very cold here in dunedin, and some 2 hours later this morning it is struggling to reach the desired 19 degrees, and is still at 16. this is unusual. thank goodness the sun is here!

cleggy2

166 posts

Master Geek

#337656 3-Jun-2010 08:48

Is your heat pump an inverter model or fixed speed? Only the inverter models should be on constantly as they go at an idle speed when up to temp. It sounds like yours is a fixed speed being the age. Also if the outside temp on some of those fixed speed models goes below 0 degrees, the outside unit will go in defrost mode which stops heating inside for about 10 minutes.

Nety

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#337657 3-Jun-2010 08:48

IlDuce: You should get rid of your oil column heaters. You should replace them with Dimplex "Drytech" oil free "eco" column heaters. These are miracle heaters, just that people don't know it!

They claim for 1kW of electricity input, they put out 30% more heat than a 1.5kW oil column heater, and up to 8 (yes EIGHT!) times faster too! Thats amazing!

I'm sorry but this is just not true. Other then heat pump's NO electric heater can put out any more heat then the power that is put into it. Both heaters will be outputting 1kW worth of heat.

Heat pumps are different because they do not use the electricity to create the heat. They pump a special gas between the outside unit and the indoor unit taking heat from outside and releasing it inside.

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vexxxboy

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#337662 3-Jun-2010 08:53

not sure if people have seen this yet but it looks quite good if you have the devices

http://www.google.com/powermeter/about/

Common sense is not as common as you think.

freitasm

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#337665 3-Jun-2010 09:04

openmedia:
freitasm:

Amem... It is ok to put some more clothes on, but the house shouldn't be 12c when you get up in the morning...

So how cold does your house get?

Back in the UK i've ha dmornings where you could easily see you breath before you got out of bed.

It depends... At night, if no heater is on it can get down to 12c in some rooms. So we want to keep the kids' bedroom at 18c - the rest is ok if warm up during the day. Also we work from home, which is different from "get up in the morning, get out of the house". Think of moving the office heating into the house.

freitasm

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#337672 3-Jun-2010 09:23

vexxxboy: not sure if people have seen this yet but it looks quite good if you have the devices

http://www.google.com/powermeter/about/

I am quite surprised to see there's a device list there as working in New Zealand. Still not complete integration with a provider, but good start.

vexxxboy

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#337687 3-Jun-2010 10:26

vexxxboy: not sure if people have seen this yet but it looks quite good if you have the devices

http://www.google.com/powermeter/about/

heres the site that has the devices for nz and they are not that expensive

http://www.smartnow.co.nz/

Common sense is not as common as you think.

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