Air to water heating system - new duplex

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dillsquatt

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We have just bought a new build (duplex) with "air to water heating system"....we wont be fully moved in for a while - will be back and forth only at weekends for at least a year. The duplex is all on one floor and downstairs.

Our builder told us to leave the system on all the time as it should never be turned off.

We were there yesterday and Friday and found it very warm and had the thermostat down very low.

We are worried of getting massive bills but also seems unnecessary to keep it on all the time - just wondering what are people's experiences? . We would value your advises on the best way of managing heating bills going forward?
 
Look up the details of the system and see what the manufacturer's documentation says about whether or not it can/should be turned off. But generally they should be kept running. If the place was too hot then maybe the ambient temperature was lower than you thought (it's been a lot cooler lately than previous weeks as far as I know - even frost a couple of mornings), the thermostats are not correctly adjusted to the low settings, or there's an issue with the thermostats.
 
Until you get your first bill and see what it costs it might be best to keep it on but just enough to keep the system ticking over because you are not living there at the moment. The way the weather is these days you just never know what's coming next and you don't want pipes freezing because it gets extremely cold.

We have air to water with underfloor heating and don't have it on at the moment because the house is also well insulated. We find it best when we do turn it on to keep it so as the underfloor takes time to build up so should not be juggled around with too much temperature wise like most heating systems.

The 24 hour heating aspect is fabulous.

Best of luck with your new home.
 
There should not be any technical reason to leave the system on permanently. It would be ridiculous to have it running during the summer. It probably suits the builders agenda to tell you to keep the heating on permanently as it would mask out problems with dampness or water ingression due to bad workmanship.
 
We set ours to have a different set temperature between day and night time. Its been on all summer, but the heat pump hasn't kicked in to heat the house up since spring time. It still heats the water, again when it goes below a set point. We keep our set temperature at 18 degrees during the day and 16 at night. Ours has an anti-freeze that kicks in automatically if required - so I don't worry about sudden changes in weather.

The house may be warm from just the sun - particularly if you've south facing windows. If the thermostat is set low, then its unlikely that the heat pump has kicked in. My indoor temperatures this week have been 19.5 - 20.5 without the heat pump kicking in and regularly opening windows.

Do you've an app with it? This would allow you to look back and see how long it was on for. I do with a Mitsubishi Ecodan. But other vendors may have different ways of monitoring.

Unlike Sue Ellen, I hate the constant heat part of it - but we're all different. If you make changes its slow to heat up, etc.. Its a system that you set and don't mess with it - e.g. trying to heat things up quickly will use more energy.
 
S class said:
There should not be any technical reason to leave the system on permanently. It would be ridiculous to have it running during the summer.
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Check the details of such systems. They're generally meant to be kept running all the time. Many have a "summer" mode.
 
dillsquatt said:
leave the system on all the time as it should never be turned off.
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This is false. But it's an understandable error.
Heat Pumps operate much more efficiently when you leave them on all the time. They are designed to maintain a constant/semi constant temperature, by releasing a small amount of heat all the time. They are not designed to do what a gas boiler does, i.e. heat up a house very quickly and then switch off.

So when you are using the heatpump to heat the apartment, you should leave it constant on (and use setback temperatures at night, or if you are away). But it is absolutely fine to turn it off if you are not living there and want to save money.
 
dem_syhp said:
We set ours to have a different set temperature between day and night time. Its been on all summer, but the heat pump hasn't kicked in to heat the house up since spring time. It still heats the water, again when it goes below a set point. We keep our set temperature at 18 degrees during the day and 16 at night. Ours has an anti-freeze that kicks in automatically if required - so I don't worry about sudden changes in weather.

The house may be warm from just the sun - particularly if you've south facing windows. If the thermostat is set low, then its unlikely that the heat pump has kicked in. My indoor temperatures this week have been 19.5 - 20.5 without the heat pump kicking in and regularly opening windows.

Do you've an app with it? This would allow you to look back and see how long it was on for. I do with a Mitsubishi Ecodan. But other vendors may have different ways of monitoring.

Unlike Sue Ellen, I hate the constant heat part of it - but we're all different. If you make changes its slow to heat up, etc.. Its a system that you set and don't mess with it - e.g. trying to heat things up quickly will use more energy.
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I have no working central heating whatsoever in my 30 year old house and its been 22-23c for the past week! Large east facing windows pull in heat from the sun during summer and recent warm days, and surprisingly airtight, so good likelihood its just the effect of recent Indian summer. You should be able to reduce the temperature on the thermostat to very low so it doesn't chew electricity.
Best of luck with the new home!
 
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