Ecodan reliability/support

[JamesPa]

Having (more or less) narrowed my choices for a new ASHP down to Grant Aerona or Mitsubishi Ecodan (based on a combination of factors including price, capability, raw performance, form factor, weight - the last being important because I will be flat roof or wall-mounting), I'm now thinking about long term maintenance. 

 

Mitsubishi get absolutely horrendous reviews on trustpilot https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/les.mitsubishielectric.co.uk, and its not all down to bad system design (which seems to be the predominant reason for ASHP complaints), which is worrying because I'm thinking of ignoring MCS etc and doing a partial diy job. 

 

Can I ask what experiences have those on this forum experienced with maintenance and reliability of these units. Does it basically come down to whether or not there is a half decent local maintainer?  

 

 

[Spreadsheetman]

I followed links on trustpilot to Nibe and Diakin and they get terrible reviews for their products too. Like Mitsubishi, all were a mix of bad installs, terrible service, frequent faults and very expensive spares.

 

Not confidence-inspiring for people considering ASHP as a heating solution!

[Kevm]

My Ecodan has been faultless and very efficient after a year's use.  I haven't posted a review on Trustpilot.

[JamesPa]

Partially to answer my own question I asked Mitsubishi Tech support a question Sunday evening and received a very helpful reply, including 4 relevant system diagrams, Monday morning.  So it seems that their tech support at least are helpful

 

 

(Q was: I am enquiring about system configurations for Ecodan R32 11.2kW. It seems that, in addition to the outdoor unit, you sell: A flow controller, Various hydroboxes all of which appear to include a flow controller, Various pre-packaged/pre-plumbed cylinders all of which appear to include a flow controller.  I understand that there are several combinations of outdoor unit and either hydrobox or cylinder which are permissible, but what is the use for the stand alone flow controller. Can you combine an outdoor unit, stand alone flow controller, and field supplied pump/diverter valve/expansion tank etc. Is there a recommended system diagram for this application?)
 

[Green Power]

Note that the way many review sites' business model works is to start with they publish bad reviews. This presumably happens naturally since people who have had things got wrong are full of anger and the review is the outlet to direct that at the world. This means that, without incentives or companies asking people to write a review, average ratings are bad since people with bad experiences are more likely to review.

 

As a result of their bad reviews, companies pay to sign-up to review sites to get the reviews better. The review sites are making money from the companies being reviewed. Think about the incentives that creates. All review sites that make the majority of their money from the companies being reviewed are as unreliable as the PR department of that same company! Ones that make their money from advertising could be more reliable. Reviews on google might be more reliable since it's not their main business model and you wouldn't think it would make sense for them to compromise their company reputation for a small additional bit of $.

 

Once a company has signed up to one of these review sites, it becomes easier for them to challenge reviews. The review site will then let them challenge reviews, and then the people get a message saying e.g. "please provide photos and further description of the experience, and serial number" and then when they get the info they require they just keep asking for more info until people give up or don't respond. By this method, they can claim negative reviews are fake, and then delete most of them. Of course, they don't challenge positive reviews. This is a very common tactic, I've often seen complaints written about it.

 

Companies signing up to these review sites also get to invite people to leave a review, or have the review sites contact the customers for them inviting them to put a review. Of course people will be invited to leave a review immediately - within days or weeks - , well before any problems would develop in most cases! Again, deliberately leading to biased reviews.

 

The people invited to review are often filtered - if a customer is known to be unhappy, they won't be invited to review.

 

Another tactic is to create high ratings is to ask some basic questions that will obviously lead to a yes answer, and then generate a star rating from the answers rather than getting the reviewer to input the rating.

 

Or email a note out saying "you are free to give any rating you wish, note that this company has received an average 4.5*" to try and give a nudge.

 

There are probably other tactics. They can't make it too obvious that they are selling a higher rating for $.

 

I should add that none of the above comment so far is directed at Trust Pilot or anyone in particular. I don't recall the exact methods of each site. You can find more with a search.

 

However notice that Mitsubishi on Trust Pilot says "unclaimed profile". I've noticed that most of the heat pump companies with an unclaimed profile on Trust Pilot that I checked had an average rating that was quite low such as 1.5* or 2* while most of the claimed profiles are nearer 4*. I do wonder if that is a coincidence, and whether or not 2* unclaimed is similar quality company to 4* claimed. 3* unclaimed might be a stellar company, while 3* claimed might be a disaster zone. Anyway, judge for yourself.

 

From what I've seen from unbiased people posting on forums and vidoes on Youtube, the Mitsubishi Ecodan is a respected product, and I'm sure people have a variety of different experiences.

[Kevm]

On 28/03/2022 at 21:38, JamesPa said:

Partially to answer my own question I asked Mitsubishi Tech support a question Sunday evening and received a very helpful reply, including 4 relevant system diagrams, Monday morning.  So it seems that their tech support at least are helpful

 

 

(Q was: I am enquiring about system configurations for Ecodan R32 11.2kW. It seems that, in addition to the outdoor unit, you sell: A flow controller, Various hydroboxes all of which appear to include a flow controller, Various pre-packaged/pre-plumbed cylinders all of which appear to include a flow controller.  I understand that there are several combinations of outdoor unit and either hydrobox or cylinder which are permissible, but what is the use for the stand alone flow controller. Can you combine an outdoor unit, stand alone flow controller, and field supplied pump/diverter valve/expansion tank etc. Is there a recommended system diagram for this application?)
 

 

To expand on my slightly unhelpful response, I've also called Mitsubishi Technical a couple of times with questions and they have always been very helpful.  Their documentation is good and easily available.

 

I have an outside monobloc unit, a non-Mitsubishi cylinder and the FTC6 controller.  The FTC6 controls everything, including the outside unit, cylinder, immersion, external pumps and diverter valves. 

[JamesPa]

Kevin and GreenPower, that's most helpful.  I was aware that any review site risks emphasising the bad, because those with bad experiences are more motivated to write, but I hadn't thought through the monetization strategies.  I have heard it said that 'if the product is free, then you are the product'.  Not quite applicable here but another salutary warning of the pitfalls of 'free' internet services.