Should Heat Pump be on Constantly?

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#338099 3-Jun-2010 22:55

Regs:
you would certainly be in the minority. double glazing, minimum R-value insulation, ceiling/wall/underfloor is now required by the building code - higher requirements the further south you live - but that only addresses houses built very recently.

And are relativly laughable specifications. IMO they should disband minimum specs for insualtion since it just leads to builders following the minimums to the letter.

Richard rich.ms

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#338149 4-Jun-2010 08:42

richms:
Regs:
you would certainly be in the minority. double glazing, minimum R-value insulation, ceiling/wall/underfloor is now required by the building code - higher requirements the further south you live - but that only addresses houses built very recently.

And are relativly laughable specifications. IMO they should disband minimum specs for insualtion since it just leads to builders following the minimums to the letter.

You would hope the owners of the house would have some input but I guess many would not even give it a thought.
I don't think removing the minimums would be the answer as builders would then just go back to the days when no installation was installed. At least this way houses have some insulation even if it is laughable by international standards.
Having just spent several weeks in Europe staying in buildings that are well insulated was a eye opener as to just how much nicer a well insulated house/building is to stay in.

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beforenightfalls

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#338187 4-Jun-2010 10:11

mentalinc , i'm not sure where you got your figure for $165 for 2 oil heaters to run at night. for the heatpump to be on all night (along with the rest of the power we use each day) we used 59units per day. for the 2 oil heaters to be on constant, and the heat pump on pretty much constant we used close to 70 units per day. So 11 units extra for the 2 oil heaters. this is approx $2.20 per day which is $61.60 per month (we pay our power every 28 days), no where near your $165 figure. if this is the cost to have 2 warm bedrooms for our little ones then its not so bad. still it will be tricky for us to afford, but thank goodness for wff! only 1 of the oil heaters is on at night at the moment, but thats just til baby is born at which point the 2nd one will be going as a newborn needs to be kept warm. everyone seems very anti oil heaters but that is what we have to use, we don't have money to buy a different type of system at the moment but in the future maybe we will.

i don't have to use powershop to keep track of my usage but i may as well, it helps me keep track of how much we owe which is a great tool when you're on a budget.

ronindanbo

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#338217 4-Jun-2010 11:05

I had seen somewhere that if you turn your Heat Pump off the external inductor still runs anyway? Does anyone know if this is correct?

langers1972

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#338221 4-Jun-2010 11:16

ronindanbo: I had seen somewhere that if you turn your Heat Pump off the external inductor still runs anyway? Does anyone know if this is correct?

No it isn't

mentalinc

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#338229 4-Jun-2010 11:21

I got my figure based on a 1kw heater running 12 hours per day at 23 cents.
times by 2 as you will have 2 heaters running soon.

Basically 12 units are keeping the oil heater running per day.

1 * 12 hours* $0.23 =$2.76
times 30 day months = $82.80
times 2 for 2 heaters = $165.60

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wellygary

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#338255 4-Jun-2010 12:24

mentalinc: I got my figure based on a 1kw heater running 12 hours per day at 23 cents.
times by 2 as you will have 2 heaters running soon.

Basically 12 units are keeping the oil heater running per day.

1 * 12 hours* $0.23 =$2.76
times 30 day months = $82.80
times 2 for 2 heaters = $165.60

You are assuming the the element in the heaters will be running all the time.

Depending on what temperature the thermostat is set at this may not be true.

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beforenightfalls

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#338256 4-Jun-2010 12:25

11 units kept the TWO oil heaters running 24hrs per day.

11 units * $0.20 (what we are currently paying) = $2.20
times 28 days (the frequency we pay our power bill) = $61.60.

This is of course just for the oil heaters and not for everything else. The oil heaters are on a thermostat. At the moment neither is on 24 hours a day, one is on whilst my daughter sleeps.

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#338294 4-Jun-2010 13:43

beforenightfalls: [snip] everyone seems very anti oil heaters but that is what we have to use, we don't have money to buy a different type of system at the moment but in the future maybe we will. [snip

I don't think it is so much that people are against oil heaters it is just that your Heat pump can give you ~3kW of heating for every 1kW of power where the oil heaters will give you ~1kW of heating for 1kW of power.
Obviously if there was a way you could use the Heat pump to warm your daughters and your rooms rather then the oil heater it would be a lot cheaper. However with the Heat pump being at the other end of the house that is not really possible.

We are in a similar situation with a heat pump in the lounge which is too small to heat the whole house (at least when it is really cold) and it would be inefficient to try to warm the bedrooms by heating the whole house over night anyway.
We plan on getting second heat pump installed in the hallway at some stage so that it can be left running on low over night just to keep the chill off set at say 16 deg's.

beforenightfalls

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#338298 4-Jun-2010 13:49

a 2nd heat pump sounds like a good idea, i hope that works for you.

oxnsox

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#338300 4-Jun-2010 13:50

The 'thermostats' fitted on most column oil heaters relate more to the temperature of the device (heater) rather than the ambient air temp in the room. An effective thermostat should not be co-located with the heater.

richms

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#338359 4-Jun-2010 19:42

I have a small 600w one that I use in the bedroom and another under the desk. Basically below about half they are almost never on, and above half they are almost always on. Room temperature doesnt seem to affect it much.

hopeless at keeping a room constantly warm. Basically inside the 600w needs to run all the time if its a cold night, and hardly at all if its mild so I have to guess what the nights going to be like before going to sleep, otherwise I wake up to a hot room or a freezing room.

Looking at seperate thermostats, but they dont seem to allow for the lag of an oil heater.

Richard rich.ms

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#338661 5-Jun-2010 23:02

Heat pumps are fine but they take a fairly long time to pay for themselves, they are noisy (well, more so than an oil column heater), they can create draughts and you can't really take them when you go elsewhere. If you can't / don't have a heat pump or other fixed source of heat then oil column heaters are the best and most comfortable way of heating.

k1wi

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#338667 5-Jun-2010 23:44

We've got a kent woodburner here in our lounge room and have always struggled to heat the other end of the house where the bedrooms are. In previous years we've used panel heaters, but over the summer we got a heat transfer kit from Mitre 10 and installed it into the ceiling with an extra 3m ducting as it's a hallway.

It does a great job of transferring a lot of the heat from up near the ceiling of the lounge room and popping it out at the very end of the hallway (where four rooms are). The downflow of hot air is similar to that of what you get when you walk into those retail stores that have the heat curtains - instantly warming. Can't hear it at all either.

We were a little apprehensive about just how good it would be but it's exceeded our expectations. The main thing is to make sure that the ducting is really well insulated and not some alcheapo ducting.

We haven't used the panel heaters at all. The woodburner in the lounge has always been able to put out more heat than is needed in the lounge room, plus you put your arms up and you can feel how much hotter the air is up there; I'm glad to be spreading a bit of it out!

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#338682 6-Jun-2010 02:21

richms:
Regs:
you would certainly be in the minority. double glazing, minimum R-value insulation, ceiling/wall/underfloor is now required by the building code - higher requirements the further south you live - but that only addresses houses built very recently.

And are relativly laughable specifications. IMO they should disband minimum specs for insualtion since it just leads to builders following the minimums to the letter.

Not sure if you're aware that there are recent changes to the minimum requirements...

For a timber framed house in Auckland, for example, minimum roof insulation R-value has gone from R1.9 to R2.9 and walls from R1.5 to R1.9. R-Values have also been introduced for windows which will typically require double-glazing.

and if they disbanded minimum specifications, it would be developers/owners telling builders to use less/cheaper materials as they try and cut costs. its easy to replace a cheap tap or door handle, but not as easy to insulate a wall or ceiling space once closed.

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