@freezingeastsussex We didn't have radiators before getting the heat pump, so we have everything new. Radiators are mostly doubles, the pipework is 28mm or 22mm (in the loft and insulated) it drops down to 15mm into each room, we're also in a bungalow. I understand the big pipework helps as it gives a larger volume of water going round the system. 

Posted by: @morgan

@majordennisbloodnok Thanks for that Dennis.  I fully understand the caveat.  I was a togger in a past life.

Thanks, @morgan; If you have a website with any examples, I’d love to see. 

Posted by: @toml1981

We don’t have radiator thermostats which from what you’re saying would help. And making sure the valve oh left side of radiator is open fully- if I understand you properly 

 

Do you know what's calling for heat? Do you have any thermostats in the property connected to your heat pump control panel?

@editor we don’t have any room sensors which are linked to the heat pump. We just have standard basic radiator TRVs

@toml1981 do you have a room sensor any where and is it the same brand as the heat pump (which means it will probably vary the flow temperature)

TRVs are fine, just leave them fully open, let the sensor vary the flow temperature!

@alec-morrow Hi we don’t have room sensors but I had a look on NIBE website and you can buy them.

Do you think this would be more efficient to run the system then?

tom

Posted by: @toml1981

@derek-m hi thanks for this. We do have our NIBE on auto which is the weather compensation mode. 

We don’t have radiator thermostats which from what you’re saying would help. And making sure the valve oh left side of radiator is open fully- if I understand you properly 

 

thanks

 

tom

Hi Tom,

If your system is operating correctly in auto mode, then you should not be having high energy consumption. Is the energy consumption due to your heat pump or some other equipment?

By limiting the water flow to your radiators by closing the valves you are making your heat pump work at higher water flow temperatures, which means that it is working less efficiently.

Do you have heat loss calculations? Do you have a room temperature sensor installed? Is your controller set to the correct heat curve for your home? If you open your radiator valves and the room temperature is too high then check the heat curve and adjust if necessary.

Do you have a buffer tank? Do you have external water pumps and valves? Please identify the equipment in your system.

Hi @morgan 

Rather than buying a thermal camera, have you considered hiring one?

Posted by: @toml1981

@alec-morrow Hi we don’t have room sensors but I had a look on NIBE website and you can buy them.

Do you think this would be more efficient to run the system then?

 

tom

If you need any specific Nibe help, let me know. I presume you have the SM0 20 controller? What size F2040 have you got?

Have you got NIBE Uplink on your phone with a subscription so that you can alter settings? 

My system is running on weather compensation. I also have a room sensor, and this helps reduce flow temperatures if the room exceeds setpoint. (A bit like auto adaption) 

Flow temp seems to average around 30-35C for me, although this is obviously very dependent on many other factors. 

@luke

 Hi Luke,

this is the heat pump settings at present. It’s smo 20/F2040.

do you have room sensors in every room? How are that fitted and how do they connect to the smo controller?

i have the NIBE uplink app ( not the myuplink app) but have not paid the subscription- is it worth it?

looks like the flow is just above 35. I recently turned the curve down to 8 corresponding to a flow of 39.

How much kw are you spending daily?

Posted by: @toml1981

@luke Hi Luke,

 

this is the heat pump settings at present. It’s smo 20/F2040.

do you have room sensors in every room? How are that fitted and how do they connect to the smo controller?

i have the NIBE uplink app ( not the myuplink app) but have not paid the subscription- is it worth it?

looks like the flow is just above 35. I recently turned the curve down to 8 corresponding to a flow of 39.

 

How much kw are you spending daily?

 

From that I can see you have a 16kW system. I’m guessing the external unit is a twin fan?

It seems like the system is running in WC mode, but are you having to use the radiator thermostats to keep the overall room temperatures down? And is this in all conditions or just warm or cold conditions? If that is the case then I suggest your heating curve is too high, therefore providing water at a much higher temperature than necessary which would then lead to a poor COP and high running costs.

If your find that in cold weather you are having to turn use the radiator thermostats then I’d suggest editing the curve slope down. If it’s in warmer weather then you would lower the curve offset. Keep doing this until the room temperature is steady and comfortable without using the local radiator thermostats. 

It is strongly advised that you don’t use the radiators thermostats to control the house temperature, as whilst this will work it won’t be efficient because the heat pump will be fighting the thermostats and you’re not truly benefitting from WC mode.

I’m guessing you’ve seen the attached screen about how to adjust the curve? This can be done in the app or on the screen as you have done. 

Finally and it took me a while to understand the way the system works, but the main set temp on the system is the base setting (yours should be 0 without a room sensor). Then if you want to lower this over night I would set a schedule in the controller that moves the set point to -1 or -2. This moves the curve 1 or 2 points down and should change the room temperature by approx 1C or 2C if you have WC setup correctly. 

I hope my ramblings are of some help. 

If you need further advice it may be worth moving this to a separate thread so we can keep track of the conversation. 

Posted by: @toml1981

@luke Hi Luke,

 

this is the heat pump settings at present. It’s smo 20/F2040.

do you have room sensors in every room? How are that fitted and how do they connect to the smo controller?

i have the NIBE uplink app ( not the myuplink app) but have not paid the subscription- is it worth it?

looks like the flow is just above 35. I recently turned the curve down to 8 corresponding to a flow of 39.

 

How much kw are you spending daily?

 

We have one room sensor. It is hardwired back to the SMO 20 controller. We have it in the Kitchen as we didn’t want it in the lounge where we sometimes use a log burner. In a hallway is ideal, but our hallway isn’t really big enough. 

If you take a look at the cost thread you’ll see my usage for the last month. I’ve not bothered converting to a cost as this is very dependent on tariff rates which are of course all over the place at the moment.