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Q&As
How can I make my heat pump work more efficiently?
We built a house with quite extensive glazing but made sure to install comprehensive insulation. We also installed a ground source heat pump. However, my electric bill is quite high (£18 a day) and it never seems very warm inside the house. Am I doing something wrong? I'm not getting much advice from installers of the pump.
One Answer
Hi Kathryn,
Thanks so much for getting in touch with your question. Low temperature heat distribution systems never give you the warmth of radiant heat. They are just designed to maintain a constant comfortable air temperature, which is not how we have historically heated our buildings. (If you were too cold you moved nearer the fire, if you were too hot you moved away or reduced its output.) Air temperature doesn’t suit everyone and 21 degrees is way too hot for a bedroom at night – at least for those of us who sleep with a window open all year round.
In order to know whether the amount being spent is reasonable you would need to look into (a) whether this is an average or just the midwinter rate, (b) how large the house is, (c) how well insulated is it – just to regulation standards or beyond, (d) whether the ground loop is correctly sized – and that can depend on ground conditions which determine the rate of recharge and (e) what the other electrical loads are. Essentially, there are lots of factors at play, but these are some core things to look into in order to get a better sense in discerning if your ground source heat pump is doing the job you want.
Nigel Griffiths (Build It’s Eco Homes & Heating expert)