As temperatures drop during winter, it’s important to understand how your hot water system will perform differently. Knowing how to optimise the system will allow you to maintain a consistent and comfortable hot water supply at home. Here’s a closer look at how Emerald’s All-In-One Heat Pump is designed to meet these winter challenges head-on, ensuring you stay warm without the hassle to achieve true winter heat pump efficiency.
Why does heat pump efficiency vary by season?
Heat pump technology involves extracting heat from the outside air to heat your water system. Naturally, as the outside air becomes colder in winter, your hot water heat pump has to work harder and longer to heat to fill your tank with hot water.
Immediate actions you can take to improve your heat pump’s efficiency this winter
1. Monitor hot water levels via the Emerald App
One of the best ways to ensure winter heat pump efficiency is by controlling how much hot water is available before you need it. Do this by linking your All-In-One Heat Pump with the Emerald App to track your hot water in real time, wherever you are. Do this following the simple steps below:
Link my Emerald All-In-One Heat Pump via AP OR Bluetooth
*Note once linked your Heat Pump is linked, it will continue to connect to your smartphone through Wi-Fi or your phone internet and will no longer need AP or Bluetooth*
The Emerald App allows you to easily view your available hot water and helps you plan your usage, by enabling boost mode to understand your usage and plan to ensure you always have glorious warm showers 24/7.
2. Using ‘Boost mode’ strategically
Last minute routine change? We appreciate your life isn’t always a well-oiled machine. This is why we created “Boost mode”. Boost mode increases the heating output temporarily to quickly meet your demands for warmer water. It’s especially useful when the weather forecast predicts colder than usual days ahead.
Use boost mode when:
Surprise birthday party with a LOT of extra dishes
The kids invite their soccer friends over after the game for a play date, meaning more showers than normal
Sudden large drop in temperature
Engaging boost mode ensures that despite the drop in temperature (or the extra house guests), your water remains cosy without disruptions.
3. Do an efficiency check on your home
It’s recommended that you ensure your home, not just your heat pump, is optimised for efficiency. Ensuring the insulation of your home’s pipes and hot water system is crucial for winter efficiency. Why? You ask? Well, not only does insulation prevent heat loss, it allows your water to remain hot while reducing energy consumption. By minimising heat loss, pipe insulation maintains a consistent temperature which leads to lower heating costs.
We also recommend to assess if your shower head is water efficient. Shower heads with low water efficiency can have a higher flow rate, causing you to chew through unnecessary hot water. A water efficient showerhead uses around 7.5-9L of water per minute. When comparing this to a regular shower head that uses up to 25L of water, you can see how this small switch could make a big difference to your hot water usage and ensure you maintain winter heat pump efficiency.
As with all things, solar performs better in some scenarios more than others. If you are heating your Emerald All-In-One Heat Pump through solar alone, you may notice a drop in performance during the winter months. Particularly if you live in a colder climate or in the southern half of Australia where the winter days are significantly shorter (If only it was summer all year long!)
During the winter months, we recommend following the steps one through three above. In particular, consider if boost mode will better support your households hot water usage.
5. Consider Smart Actions
Emerald’s App was designed with ‘Smart Actions’, allowing you to schedule operating times for your heat pump. Don’t know what Smart actions are? We’ve written a blog explaining it in detail for you that we recommend you read to consider if they are right for you.
Yes, cold temperatures mean your heat pump will need to be on for longer, but using Smart Actions to your advantage allows you control over when your heat pump operates.
These automations have been developed to support your lifestyle, however, it’s important to examine the temperature in your area and the amount of water your household uses before considering Smart Actions to ensure they are right for you.
Get the most out of your Emerald Heat Pump this winter
Understanding seasonal performance variations and knowing how to use your system’s smart features effectively can lead to optimal winter heat pump efficiency.
Remember every winter to:
Understand how your Heat Pump might perform differently
Monitor your hot water usage using the Emerald App
Use boost mode strategically to create hot water on demand
Do an efficiency check on your home
Consider how your solar set-up might need to be adapted
Emerald’s All-In-One Heat Pump systems are designed not only to provide comfort but enable you to adapt them smartly to both environmental changes and your personal needs.
Don’t let the cold weather put a damper on your heat pump’s efficiency this winter. By leveraging smart technology and utilising these tips, you can ensure that your system works smarter, not harder, keeping you warm and comfortable throughout the season.
Joelle Turton-Scheffer on
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