How to Use Your Heat Pump for Cooling During the Summer Months

After a damp April and a slightly chilly start to May, the thermometer has actually crept above 20 degrees in the last half of the month.

We recently wrote about what you should do with the heat pump after a long and cold winter, such as cleaning the filters, but how should you use the pump now that it’s warm outside?

Cools well

Perhaps not everyone knows that the heat pump is also great to use in the summer months to cool down the home so that you can stay comfortably inside on the hottest days.

Einar Gulbrandsen, information officer at the Heat Pump Association, recommends that you use the heat pump together with sun protection.

– To reduce the need for cooling as little as possible, it is important to use sun protection. This applies whether you have awnings, screens or other forms of shielding, he says and reminds that you must remember to close doors and windows when you use the heat pump for cooling.

– You can compare this with air conditioning in the car; it is only when we close the windows that we notice the effect of the cooling, Gulbrandsen points out. And if you are going to cool, check that you are not heating with other sources at the same time: Make sure that panel ovens, heating cables and other things are switched off, says Gulbrandsen.

Refrigerate sparingly

To activate cooling on the heat pump, press the “mode” button on the remote control until a snow crystal appears on the remote control panel. Then select the desired temperature.

As in the heating season, the Heat Pump Association recommends that you drop the “auto” mode in the summer as well.

Gulbrandsen says that temperature is an individual thing, but that a setting of around 22 degrees can be a good solution. At the same time, he recommends using a high fan speed for efficient cooling and good dispersion of the cool air.

– When there is a need for cooling, it is usually hot outside and it is usual to wear lighter clothes. If you wear a T-shirt and shorts, you don’t need to cool down to 21 degrees, he points out.

This is what they mean

Remember this

One thing that is important when using the heat pump’s cooling mode is to keep an eye on condensation.

In cooling mode, there will be some condensation and moisture in the interior. This is completely normal, and exactly the same as what happens when you take a can of cold soda out of the fridge in the heat: It foams. The moisture in the interior is sent out of the house through a condensation water hose.

– It is smart to test it when you are going to use the heat pump for cooling. The hose must be fitted with a slope so that condensation water flows out through the hose. Take a look outside to see where the water ends up so it can’t do any damage. If you are unsure, it is best to contact the installer, says Gulbrandsen.

Dispels the myth about heat pumps

Don’t turn it off

He therefore recommends that you do not switch off the heat pump completely when you have finished cooling.

– The heat pump should continue to run to dry up moisture from condensation in the interior. Some models have a built-in drying function that starts when you switch off the heat pump after using it for cooling, says Gulbrandsen.

In periods where there is a great need for cooling, you can raise the temperature at night, for example to 24 degrees. Alternatively, you can set the heat pump in fan mode.

Then the fan in the indoor unit continues to run, without the heat pump cooling.