Should I put my heat pump on a timer?

[kairus00]

My pool pump is on a timer and when it kicks on the flow switch in the heat pump (RayPak R4450TI-E) triggers the unit to turn on. I can't tell if just the fan is turning on or the compressor too. I've looked through the user manual and I'm not sure if there's a startup delay for the compressor. I see there's a 3-min delay to prevent short cycling. I'm concerned that when the unit detects flow it turns on due to the temperature reading in the pipes being lower than the set point. Then once the water starts flowing it turns off because it's warmer than the set point.

The unit seems to have settings related to controlling a pump on a schedule, but not a schedule for the unit otherwise. I've been thinking about throwing a separate timer on the unit so it can turn on an hour after my pump is scheduled to turn on.

 

[kefjens]

My gas heater does the same thing. I was thinking it was just because I startup at low pump speed (two speed pump) and it takes some time to get the water reading at the heater up. A delay seems like a good idea. I might try starting it on high to see if that helps as well.