Smart Heat Pump Control | Havenwise

Smart Heat Pump Control

In this episode of Energy Unwrapped, I’m joined by Alex Nelson, co-founder of Havenwise, to talk about smart heat pump control, why manufacturer controls do not always make the best decisions, and how software can make heat pumps easier to live with day to day.

We get into how weather compensation is supposed to work, why it can still be awkward for homeowners, and where Havenwise fits in as a cloud-based controller that aims to make heat pumps as simple to use as a Hive or Nest was for a boiler. We also talk about learning your home, predicting heating needs, using time-of-use tariffs, optimising hot water, and where smart controls can help most.

A big theme throughout the episode is that heat pumps work best when they are controlled very differently from boilers. Instead of blasting heat into the house and switching on and off, they are better at making small, steady adjustments. That is where better controls can make a real difference to both comfort and cost.

What we cover in this episode

• what smart heat pump control actually means

• why weather compensation can be hard for homeowners to manage

• how Havenwise started and how it models a home and heat pump

• how smart controls learn your property over time

• why comfort should come before tariff chasing

• how Havenwise uses time-of-use tariffs like Agile and Cosy

• how to think about heat pump hot water timing

• why some systems are too poor for software alone to fix

• who Havenwise is for, and who probably does not need it

• how smart controls could help both homeowners and installers

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Full Transcript

Below is the full transcript for this episode, lightly edited for readability.

What Is Smart Heat Pump Control?

At the start of the episode, I set out the basic problem. Heat pumps usually run on weather compensation, where radiator temperature rises and falls with the outdoor temperature. In theory, that is exactly what you want. In practice, many manufacturer controls are awkward, overly technical, or simply not very good at making the best decisions for comfort and cost. That is the gap Havenwise is trying to fill.

Why Weather Compensation Still Confuses Homeowners

One of the key points in this conversation is that weather compensation works very differently from the way most people are used to heating a home with a boiler. With a boiler, you ask for heat and the system blasts out high temperature water until the thermostat is satisfied. A heat pump works better when it just keeps feeding the home the right amount of heat. The problem is that many homeowners are left staring at weather curves, slopes and menus that make little sense unless you already think like a heating engineer.

How Havenwise Started

Alex explains that the roots of Havenwise go back several years to a university masters project in control engineering and building thermodynamics. That early work became the technical foundation for the control model used today. Later, Alex teamed up with co-founder Henry, whose background spans engineering, energy and business, and the two developed the idea into a product focused on real world heat pumps.

How Havenwise Learns Your Home and Heat Pump

A particularly interesting part of the episode is the way Havenwise builds a model of both the home and the heat pump. Alex explains that the house has its own thermal behaviour, while the heat pump also has its own operating characteristics, and the software learns how the two interact. That learning phase helps the controller predict how the building will warm up, cool down and respond to different conditions.

Why Smart Heat Pump Controls Can Improve Comfort

From my own experience using Havenwise, one of the standout differences compared with manufacturer controls is how willing it is to be more assertive when needed. For example, if the house has cooled overnight or while nobody is home, Havenwise can push flow temperatures harder to get the house back to target in time. That means the comfort side is often better, not just the efficiency side.

Why Heat Pumps Feel Different from Boilers

A big part of this episode is homeowner education. Heat pumps are not boilers, and trying to control them in the same way often leads to frustration. Alex describes boilers as a bit like speedboats and heat pumps as more like cruise ships. Boilers are very responsive. Heat pumps are better at looking ahead, making smaller adjustments and maintaining a stable indoor temperature. That mindset shift is important if you want good results.

Smart Tariffs, Agile and Cosy for Heat Pumps

We also get into the way Havenwise can work with time-of-use tariffs. On a flat tariff, the controller behaves more like a predictive weather compensation system. On tariffs such as Octopus Agile or Cosy, it can also take changing prices into account and decide when it makes sense to turn heating up, turn it down, or coast through more expensive periods. Importantly, this is not always as simple as switching the heat pump on and off. Often the smarter move is to reduce flow temperature rather than stop heating altogether.

Hot Water Timing, COP and Off-Peak Electricity

The conversation also covers hot water control, which is another area where software can help. Havenwise can schedule hot water based on when the homeowner needs it, while also considering the impact of outdoor temperature and electricity price. I make the point that from a cost angle, shifting hot water to an off-peak period will usually save more money than chasing small COP improvements. That is something many heat pump owners need to hear.

Can Smart Controls Fix a Bad Heat Pump Installation?

One of the more useful parts of the chat is the honest discussion around poor installs. Smart controls can improve a lot, but they cannot fix a fundamentally bad system. If the pipework is wrong, flow rates are poor or the setup is just badly designed, no software can perform miracles. What it can do is get the best possible result from the system you have and sometimes surface data that helps show where the real problem lies.

Who Havenwise Is For and Who It Is Not For

Alex is clear that Havenwise is not necessarily aimed at the people who enjoy endlessly tweaking Home Assistant dashboards and manually optimising every heating decision themselves. It is much more obviously useful for homeowners who want the house to stay comfortable without becoming amateur heating engineers. That also extends to installers, who may benefit from fewer support calls, remote visibility and simpler customer control.

What Comes Next for Havenwise

Towards the end of the episode, Alex talks about what comes next for Havenwise. That includes broader brand support, more features, more data visibility, and continued work on ease of use and reliability. The wider theme is that heating controls should not stand still. Unlike static manufacturer boards, cloud-based software can keep improving over time.

About the Energy Unwrapped Podcast

Energy Unwrapped is my podcast about renewables, home electrification and how energy technology works in the real world. You can browse all episodes, platform links and future updates on the main Energy Unwrapped Podcast page.

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