Can Heat Pumps Be Turned Off in Summer?

TractorFactor

With our gas boiler, we turn the heating off around April time and it doesn't come back on until October-ish - obviously depending on temperatures.

How does this work with a heat pump and hot water?

QrizB

If the weather is too warm for your room thermostats to call for heat, the heat pump won't run to heat the rooms. Your heat pump will still run to make hot water.

matelodave

Of course you can turn it off completely in the same way as you can turn off a gas or oil boiler and the result will be similar. No heating or hot water,

You can shut the heating down (either using thermostats or the inbuilt controller) and you'll then only get hot water.

I quite often shut mine down when we go away for a period in the summer when we dont need heating or hot water but its still cheaper to use it to heat water at around 300% efficiency compared to an immersion heater at 100%. I generally only heat the hot water tank once every other day in the summer as we get enough hot water for our needs.

They really aren't as mysterious or magic as some people seem to believe although if you want to get the best out of them its worth putting the effort into understanding how to use them properly.

Reed_Richards

It's exactly the same as with a gas boiler.  You can turn the heating off and just leave the heat pump heating the hot water.  Or you can turn the thermostat down so the heat pump only comes on if it gets particularly cold inside.  You can turn everything off if you go away.

Personally, I don't want to be colder in summer than I am in winter so I just leave the same heating schedule running all year.  If it's warm out then the heat pump doesn't come on; if it's cold outside it does.