Radiators and the mitsubishi ecodan air source heat pump

frank1978

Just moved in a Council bungalow that has a mitsubishi ecodan air source heat pump outside in my back garden. Engineer came today to install room stat. And my radiators won't come on. So I phoned up and they said with this system the Radiators won't come on unless the outside temperature is below 18 degrees. So basically this means I can't have my radiators on anytime its warm outside to dry my bath towel etc. Dosen't make any sense to me.

Anyone know if this is right ?

Thanks all

Alnat1

Hang your towel outside it it's nice. Nobody can afford to put the heating on to dry one towel these days.

QrizB

frank1978 said:

Anyone know if this is right ?

I don't know if it's right, but your bath towel should dry just fine without needing heat.
And running an entire CH system for the sake of a bath towel seems rather excessive.

Alnat1

Try to learn as much as you can about how your heating system works, it's not like other heating systems you may have had in the past.

Spoonie_Turtle

We have one, installed by the Housing Association*, and we still don't fully understand it but that does sound right.  Our heating is set at 18℃ and I can't remember the last time the radiators came on.  Might have been March, early April?  You should be able to change the heating temperature on the thermostat unit for it to kick in if you are cold (set it half a degree above what it says the room temp is) but if it's just for the sake of bath towels that would be an expensive way of drying them.

We actually now have microfibre towels, I know not ideal for the environment, but they're so much more absorbent yet dry incredibly quickly.  Our previous cotton towels used to smell musty quite quickly because they were so slow to dry (even in warmer weather) but these have no such problem.

*(As an aside, now I know how people survive winters - with central heating!  Gone are the days of condensation freezing on the inside! )

[Deleted User]

Increasingly, occupants of flats and other well-insulated homes are using a small de-humidifier to dry towels and clothing. The advantage of this is that the water vapour is removed from the clothes/air and literally poured down the sink. Drying towels etc on a radiator is a recipe for damp unless the property is well-ventilated. Any water vapour circulating in the air will find the coldest surface and condense. The reason for mould in bathrooms is not just inadequate heat but also insufficient ventilation.

PS. I suspect that turning on a heating system to dry a few towels could prove to be pretty expensive.

matelodave

Even though heatpumps are very efficient they can be much more expensive to run than say a gas  o oil boiler which although arent as efficient use energy that costs a quarter of the leccy that the heatpump uses.

Heatpumps don't work like boilers so, f you want to avoid bankrupting yourself you need to learn how to set the controls, understand how it works and to use it efficiently and TBH drying towels on is not a good way to use it.

Most people who are unhappy with a heatpump and end up with high energy bills haven't had it set up properly and don't know how to use it properly.

Those who do learn how to use it properly can have a nice cozy home, plenty of hot water (but not necessarily as hot as you may used to) and energy bills that are no higher than gas or oil. It just takes a bit of effort