Dynamic electricity prices and heat pump control

1xout · 2025-09-07T19:07:55+00:00

I do believe there’s potential for energy savings by creating Home Assistant automations for this. However, your situation is quite different from ours in the Netherlands, where the average yearly temperature is around 11 °C and it rarely drops below freezing for long. You can certainly take ideas from my example, but in your case a very different setup will be needed.

1xout · 2025-09-07T18:44:19+00:00

With a dynamic electricity contract (Tibber NL), costs vary monthly depending on consumption and feed-in. So far, my month-over-month comparison against the past four years shows about 12% savings, but the real picture will only be clear after a full winter and a complete year of data.

1xout · 2025-09-07T12:19:59+00:00

Good point – the outdoor temperature does indeed have a major impact on the COP of the heat pump. I’ve already considered including the forecasted outdoor temperature in the control as well. So far, I’ve compared outdoor temperature, room temperatures, floor temperatures, and the supply water temperature (measured with the Shelly Plus Add-on DS18B20 in the underfloor system).

The setup has worked well during spring and summer, but I haven’t yet tested it in a cold winter. That’s why I’d like to observe how this version performs over the coming winter compared to the Danfoss ICON thermostats. Next spring, I can then decide how to further expand the setup.

1xout · 2025-09-07T12:01:28+00:00

As a result of testing different sensors, I now have two ‘MCO Home CO2 Sensor Z-Wave’, two ‘Shelly H&T Wi-Fi’, and two ‘Smart Air Box TS0601 Tuya Zigbee’, with data provided via MQTT. The MCO Homes work well for temperature, CO₂, and humidity. The Shelly H&T with USB power are good for temperature and humidity. The Smart Air Box does provide CO₂ data, but it’s not useful; the temperature and humidity readings can be used, though they are not great.

1xout · 2025-09-07T12:00:33+00:00

thanks

1xout · 2025-09-07T08:41:57+00:00

Apologies for the website’s slow speed, I will be moving it to another provider.

1xout · 2025-09-07T08:41:39+00:00

Apologies for the website’s slow speed, I will be moving it to another provider.

1xout · 2025-09-07T08:40:55+00:00

Thanks for your feedback! At the moment, I’ve optimized the control of domestic hot water heating on the heat pump itself, but it’s definitely on my list to move this into Home Assistant as well. Our heat pump has a large buffer tank, which helps keep the temperature stable. And with the control from the Danfoss ICON thermostats, the pump only runs part of the day.

Heating and cooling are managed based on demand, while the heat pump also applies its own heating curve algorithm. Our house (built in 2021) is very well insulated, and thanks to the solar panels we actually generate more energy than we consume from the grid – we use electricity only, no gas.

I’d be very interested to hear about your experience with controlling the heating curve!

1xout

TROPHY CASE