To absolutely hate heat pumps?!

[Rosesandstars]

We moved into a house with a heat pump already set up. It is awful- it takes ages for the heating to get to any reasonable temperature and the hot water runs out after a 15 minute shower, it then takes over an hour to heat up again. Does anyone else find the same or AIBU?

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Updated by MNHQ
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Anyone doing a proper job installing a heat pump, should have asked questions about your hot water and heating usage. If they didn’t think the installed system would meet your specific needs, they should have sized a bigger one or not installed one at all.

So if you don't like your house warm all the time they're no good? I'd find it oppressive having heat on all the time. Or maybe I'm misunderstanding.

Our air source heat pump is amazing, the house is a constant cosy temperature and we always have hot water. But our house is airtight with underfloor heating, tons of insulation and a heat recovery system. Before it was installed the house was tested and sealed for airtightness as that maximises efficiency of the heat pump.

Wouldn’t work for me as i open all the windows to air the damp in the morning, even if -8! For 10minutes and then turn the heating on for the day. So there is no heating on overnight downstairs and it cools down as I know I’m opening the windows. Central heating then goes on and a quick blast of the fan heater. Would take all day to get back to temp with a heat pump. I usually only ever have the heating on for 3 hours before the evening working from home, so not all day.

We have one and don't have it on constant. It's off (or effectively off, as it's set at 10 degrees) overnight, on for an hour in the morning to take the chill off, then on from an hour before we get home from work. That works fine for us.

We have one at work and I hate it. It gets oppressively hot and then the moment the room reaches a certain temperature it starts blowing out freezing cold air to get the temperature down. It’s never just right.

100% not the point of this thread but who has their big shower without it taking 15mins?! I am pretty low maintenance but once you've covered a double shampoo, conditioner, super glam feet dead skin removal (i need a revolting sort of foot grater), exfoliating, washing and shaving I am normally at 20 mins!

Are we talking about different things? Our heat pump still uses radiators to heat the house, not a fan - the only difference from a standard system is that the water in the radiators is heated by an outside heat pump, not a boiler.

*You've got it set too high. With the freezing air outside, the heat pump will struggle to heat your home to 21. We have ours set to 16 upstairs and 18 downstairs.

But that's not very warm?

At 18 i find the house is not warm enough. I think most people in the UK expect their home to be at 19 or even 20, especially in the evenings when sat down.

Melmos ive never shampooed my hair twice in my life!

I only really shave my legs in summer and only once a week, and don't exfoliate or get skin off my feet either....

My Mum has a modern house with ground source heating. It's always warm but not oppressive, just feels pleasant all the time. When we go to visit her she tends to worry about the hot water but it's never actually run out.

We moved into a house with a heat
pump. It was costing up £20-25 per day to run on the height of winter and it was still cold in the house. We quickly fitted a gas boiler (husband is a plumber). The hot water wasn’t too bad to be honest, I could usually do a bath for our toddler and then usually have a quick shower before it went cold.

Before it was installed the house was tested and sealed for airtightness as that maximises efficiency of the heat pump.

But how do you air the house? Where does all the moisture go from condensation from showers, steam from iron/tumbledrier, cooking etc?

But how do you air the house? Where does all the moisture go from condensation from showers, steam from iron/tumbledrier, cooking etc?

She says they have a heat recovery system, that recirculates the air and removes heat but also moisture. Mum has one and it works really well.

I love ours. Cheap to run, warm house and lots of hot water. No problems at all also when the temperature goes below zero. Maybe it is an installation issue?

Trouble is the system isn't regulated unlike gas where you have to be gas safe. Anyone can claim they know what they're doing and lots of cowboys have mis-sold them.

It sounds like your system was poorly designed for the property.

However, there is a registered verification scheme for installers which shows a level of skill and expertise, it's voluntary not compulsory, because - unregulated.
https://mcscertified.com/

I would contact one of the registered installers and get the system reviewed. Maybe a replacement water tank could be all you need.
But a well designed system should perform to good comfort and heat demand requirements, so I think while your experience is not a good one, that doesn't mean great pumps are rubbish generally.

I get in the bath if I’m going to do all that.

Maybe the terminology is different in the UK, but I live in a poorly insulated 100 year old flat in Montreal, Quebec. We can have 30 c in the summer and our average daily low temp for Jan-Feb is about -14 c not counting wind chill.

I have electric baseboard heaters that were there when I bought the place, but I had a mini split heat pump installed about 6 years ago. It’s my primary heat source now. Some cold days in January I will turn on the baseboard heater that’s furthest away from the heat pump wall unit, but overall it’s great. The only times when I’ve had to turn on more than 1 baseboard were during a 3 day cold snap last year where it was -30 c. Overall, my electricity costs are about 30% less than they were previously. I’m baffled at the hate!

it’s possible you guys aren’t getting the right size or type heat pumps for your home, or that the terminology is different and we are talking about different things entirely,

Canada

Do you have underfloor heating

That's an air con unit, surely? Doesn't sound like a heat pump! Heat pumps heat either radiators or under floor heating. And a hot water cylinder. They don't have a cooling function ie they don't lower the temperature.

My husband’s job is to train heat pump surveyors and installers. He has a lot of experience with them over the last few years.
We are currently renovating a property to live in and he said under no circumstances would we get a heat pump, so go figure 😂

Did they upgrade the radiators when the heatpump was put in? they should look about 30- 40% bigger than normal rads.

Me too

No. I don’t know anybody who has that. Not common here at all. I’ve heard of it in some high end homes, but never seen it in person. Most common are baseboard heating (usually electric) or a furnace (the modern ones are electric, older ones could be natural gas or even oil).

Surely you don't have the water running all the time?