If you've shopped around for heat pump cleaning at all, you've seen the pitch: "Save up to 25% on your power bill!" We can't bring ourselves to write that. It's not honest, and you'd be right to roll your eyes at it.

So here's the honest version of the same conversation.

What's actually true

A dirty coil and a clogged filter do make a heat pump work harder. That's not marketing — it's physics. When air can't move through the unit freely, the fan and compressor compensate by running longer to deliver the same heating or cooling. Longer runtime means more electricity.

How much more? Studies of ductless mini-splits have found that a heavily-soiled unit can use somewhere between 5–15% more energy than a clean one to deliver the same comfort. That's a real range — not nothing — and it's what gives those "25% savings" ads their thread of truth.

What's not true

The "25%" number is the absolute ceiling, measured on the dirtiest, most neglected units in a lab — not on a normal home unit that's been used for a few years without cleaning. In a typical Nova Scotia home with reasonable maintenance, we'd expect cleaning to recover something like 3–8% in energy, not 25%.

On a power bill of $200/month from heating, that's $6–16/month back. Over a year, that's $70–190. Real money — but not the "your cleaning pays for itself in two months" claim some companies make.

What matters more than cleaning

If lowering your heat-pump-related power bill is the real goal, here's the honest priority list:

  1. Don't overshoot your set point. Every degree higher in winter (or lower in summer) costs disproportionately more energy. 21°C is a good winter target for most homes.
  2. Don't crank the thermostat to "catch up" faster. Heat pumps don't work that way — see our cold-snap guide.
  3. Use the right mode. "Heat" in winter, "Cool" in summer. Auto mode lets the unit second-guess itself and burn energy switching modes.
  4. Insulation and air sealing. A drafty house with a clean heat pump uses more power than a tight house with a slightly dirty one.
  5. Then, cleaning. Regular maintenance is real and worthwhile — but it's the smallest variable on this list, not the biggest.

Why we still think it's worth doing

If cleaning isn't the dramatic bill-saver some companies claim, why bother?

  • Cleaner air in the room you sit in every day. This is the real win, especially in pet homes.
  • The musty smell goes away. Hard to put a dollar value on this, but if you have it, you know.
  • The unit lasts longer. Compressors aren't cheap to replace. Running them clean stretches their working life.
  • Small bill reduction is still a real reduction. $70–190 a year over a 12-year heat pump lifespan is real money — just not the headline number.

Our promise on this

BlueBear will never quote you specific power-bill savings. If a cleaning company tells you "this'll save you X% on your bill," ask them to put that in writing with a refund clause. They won't. We won't either — because nobody can honestly predict your bill, and we'd rather under-promise and have you genuinely happy with the result.

Book the cleaning for the air, the smell, and the life of the unit. Treat any power-bill savings as a small bonus.