Protecting your heat pump and central heating system this winter

When winter sets in, it is essential for every home to be amply prepared in keeping your family warm. This gives your heating and/or heat pump system a big role during the upcoming winter months along the area. And hence knowing that your system will run in its best shape reduces the worry of likely experiencing a terrible temperature.

Ways to protect your heating system

With winter just around the corner and by the way, it’s going to be colder this year than it was last year according to the latest figures from the met office. Your central heating system is vulnerable in the winter months, the copper pipes that run around your home and especially in the garage will, if you don’t follow the steps we set out, freeze and will burst and you’ll have a nice mess on the floor and a costly bill to repair!

Protect your copper central heating pipes: This is something you can easily do yourself (DIY) – Buy yourself some pipe insulation and wrap your pipes in the most vulnerable places in your home and garage. You can buy pipe insulation from shops like, B&Q or Screwfix and it’s very cheap too.

Boiler pressure. 

Another way to protect your home this winter is your boiler pressure. For example, it should be running at 1 bar! (~ or above) Boilers run better at 1 bar~, you’ll find the pressure gauge on the front of your boiler or underneath it. If it’s too high or too low, it’s a good idea to give your boiler service engineer a call to come and check it over for you if you’re not sure. If you live in the Northampton area you can give THS Plumbing & Heating Northampton a call for help or HeatDoctor if you live in Wellingborough.

Keeping warm

Keeping your family warm this coming winter is so important as figures show we’re in for sub-zero winter months. Here are a few things you can do to make sure you keep warm this winter. Have warming food and drinks by cooking homemade meals and drinking tea or coffee. Keep the room you’re mainly in during the day to at least 18–21°C and the rest of your house at 16°C. If you’re left with some pipe insulation after covering your central heating pipes, you can use this to place them on the bottom of your interior doors as a door draft guard, good idea eh?

Protect your heat pump

You might be wondering why you have to mess with your system but preparing it for winter weather can have great benefits such as lowering your energy usage, dropping the bill, and extending the entire life of your system. Plus, no matter how durable this piece of equipment is, it still needs a little TLC from time to time, especially when the weather is at its worst. Below are easy ways to keep your unit in its tip-top shape during heavy snow.

Schedule a service on your unit.

The saying “It’s better to be safe than sorry.” is quite true when it comes to preparing your heat pump and central heating system for some unpredictable weather. In other words, seeing the unit in good condition is not enough. To make sure that the unit will keep working at optimal levels in preparation of the upcoming storm, ask a plumber, heating engineer to inspect everything from the condenser, pipes, heat exchange to electrical switches. This way helps ensure that the repairs will be made before the expected situation arises.  A heating system inspection combats future repairs and keeps your unit working at optimal levels. A technician checks everything from the internal components to electrical switches, and repairs are made before a situation even arises.

Central Heating and Boiler Repairs.

If the unexpected happens and you find that your central heating isn’t working and your boiler isn’t waking up, you can contact our boiler repair engineers to inspect and fix/repair it before the winter.

Change or clean the air filters.

The technician will notice the air filters upon inspection of the entire unit. This component should be replaced or cleaned at least every three months. (depending on how much it’s used) But if there are residents that smoke, have pets, or located in a dusty area, the replacement must then be increased to a weekly or monthly basis as they will get very dirty very quickly. By replacing the air filters, you prevent the dirt from being recirculated through the entire room. You can do the replacement procedure by yourself but if you are not comfortable, you can ask a well-experienced friend to install it for you.

How do I clean the air filter myself?

Before you start cleaning your filter in your indoor unit, be sure to turn off the power. Next, find out where the filters are located by reading the manual. Once you have located and removed the filter, you can clean it using a soft brush, hover it or run it under your tap in the kitchen. If you’re happy, leave the filter to air dry and place it back into your unit. How would I know if my air filter needs cleaning? Depending on what system you have, some models will display a “filter change”, or “clean filter” message either on your remote control or on your wall mounted display unit. If you’ve cleaned your filter and the message it is still displaying, you will have to reset the filter message again by reading the system manual on resetting the filter message, this is very simple to do and can be done by yourself.

Clear your heat pumps.

The heavy snow build-up on outdoor units is inevitable. But make sure to clear the snow and ice to prevent failures in condensing units and heat pumps as the snow build-up restricts the airflow. Doing this can also prevent the ice from defrosting and causing leakage into the unit.

Check insulation.

Getting the structure insulated is among the best long-term ways to keep the temperature regulated. If you have a loft at home, make sure that it is properly insulated because the heat is mostly lost through the roof. Wrapping the ill-protected pipes with insulation covers will help counter the freezing which often causes costly repairs in the long run.