Baseline
Record the equipment, normal targets, schedules, visible settings, and what the house currently does.
UK AIR-TO-WATER HEAT PUMPS
Heat Pump Owner Guides
Start with what the system is doing now, make one deliberate owner-level change at a time, and stop when the next useful step belongs with a competent professional.
The owner's method
The practical sequence used across these guides is Baseline → Observe → Adjust → Check → Escalate. It is designed to preserve the commissioned starting point and avoid changing several settings at once.
Observe
Separate the thing you can actually see from the explanation you think may be causing it.
Adjust
If the exact control is intended for household use, change one thing for a clear reason.
Check
Give the building and system enough time to show whether the change helped.
Escalate
When the next step needs installer-only settings, internal work, repair, or specialist expertise, stop changing things and hand over useful evidence.
FREE PRACTICAL GUIDES
Common questions for new and existing owners
HEAT PUMP OWNER GUIDE
Your First 30 Minutes With a New Air-to-Water Heat Pump
Record the system before you optimise it. Identify the outdoor and indoor equipment, main controls, current settings, heating emitters, paperwork, and available energy information.
Read the guideHEAT PUMP OWNER GUIDE
Heat Pump Weather Compensation: What Owners Need to Understand
Weather compensation raises the heating-water target when it is colder outside and lowers it when conditions are milder. Judge it by comfort patterns, not by copying another owner's numbers.
Read the guideHEAT PUMP OWNER GUIDE
Heat Pump Frost, Steam and Defrost: What May Be Normal
Frost, visible vapour, drainage water, short heating pauses, and changing sounds can all occur during normal operation. The useful test is whether the event clears and ordinary heating resumes.
Read the guideHEAT PUMP OWNER GUIDE
Heat Pump Electricity Use Looks High? Start With These Checks
A high electricity figure is information, not a diagnosis. First establish what the number measures, then compare weather, comfort target, recovery, hot-water demand, auxiliary heat, settings, other household loads, and faults.
Read the guideHEAT PUMP OWNER GUIDE
When to Stop Troubleshooting a Heat Pump and Call the Installer
Owner troubleshooting should end when the next useful step requires protected settings, internal work, repair, or expertise you do not have. Arrive at that boundary with useful evidence.
Read the guideOWNER BOUNDARIES
Know which category the next step belongs in
Green: ordinary owner observation and normal user controls such as reading the display, checking a schedule, recording a fault code, or looking for an obvious external obstruction.
Amber: system-specific settings whose effect depends on the installation and manufacturer guidance, including many weather-compensation, leaving-water-temperature, domestic-hot-water, and backup-heater settings.
Red: internal electrical work, refrigerant work, dismantling, bypassing safety devices, pressure or safety-component changes, and repair or commissioning work.