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Powrmaric r290 A2A monoblocs


Beelbeebub

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https://www.powrmatic.co.uk/products/air-conditioning/airco290/

 

Does anyone have experience of these units (or their predecessors which were r32)?

 

I am thinking about replacing some storage heaters using these.

 

The particular tenant is experiencing very high elec bills.

 

We've traced this down to his electricity company charging him standard rate for all electricity.

 

Eon claim they can't provide economy 7 for him due to "a complex meter setup".

 

This is bollocks, it's a standard, albeit old, system. A standard rate meter and a night rate meter serving a dedicated heater circuit switched on and off by a clock.  So instead of paying 36/12p he's stuck paying 28p. I estimate it's costing him and extra £700 or so a year. (Actually more because they are billing him 2 standing charges)

 

One option is to try and get the meters ripped out and replaced with a single smart meter dual rate one.

 

Physically simple, but apparently the bureaucratic equivilent of a mars mission.

 

The other option would be to replace a few of his units with the above.

 

Given he's paying flat rate any CoP above 1 will be a win.  If it can achieve a SCoP of about 2.3 he will be back to where E7 would be, except maybe a bit better as his regular elec will be 28p not 36p.

 

If we can better 2.3 we'll be ahead.

 

The 3re option is a mini split.

 

That should achieve higher cops and a single unit should be able to serve 2 or 3 rooms, but the outside unit may be more problematic.

 

 

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4 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

They seem quite expensive. 

 

I think someone here fitted a similar, but cheaper version.

I am a interested in one, but when I looked at the noise level I talked myself out of it.

Noise level, good point.

 

Yeah, if they were £500 a unit that would definitely get very attractive 

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18 minutes ago, Beelbeebub said:

Yeah, if they were £500 a unit that would definitely get very attractive 

Have a hunt around on here (do a google site search), think the units were about 700-750 or so.

Think the noise was around 50dB, my bedroom is usually around 25dB.

 

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Edited by SteamyTea
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Do these devices jeopardise the leak tightness of the structure of the house? Or is the condenser/evaporator in a sealed chamber inside the unit?

I'm not thinking so much about sealing around the ducts which go through the wall, which I guess is a given, but how the internals of the device are designed.

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2 hours ago, LnP said:

Do these devices jeopardise the leak tightness of the structure of the house? Or is the condenser/evaporator in a sealed chamber inside the unit?

I'm not thinking so much about sealing around the ducts which go through the wall, which I guess is a given, but how the internals of the device are designed.

I don't think so, here's a video with one unit being opened up

 

EXternal air is contained within the unit, rather like a room sealed boiler.

 

That said, a unit that deliberately took the outside air and heated it up using extracted air from the room might not be a bad thing. Basically a standalone heatpump powered MHRV unit.

 

Would definitely help with preventing humidity and pollutant buildup 

 

 

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28 minutes ago, Beelbeebub said:

I don't think so, here's a video with one unit being opened up

Pretty simple and nicely packaged.  I think it.

 

29 minutes ago, Beelbeebub said:

a unit that deliberately took the outside air and heated it up using extracted air from the room might not be a bad thing

A bit of extra pipework and that should be possible.  A venture bleed system should do it,

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  • 1 month later...

As a follow up, I asked the supplier for some info on the lower temp performance of the units as the literature only specs at 7C external area.

 

Anyway they got back to me (fair play) with ... 

 

Low Ambient Heating Performance
Ambient Temp. RH humidity Heating capacity in average (W) Power Input (W) COP
0 70% 2560 821 3.12
-5 70% 2477 924 2.68
-7 70% 1862 947 1.97

 

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Actually seems pretty good. Will be better than break even (carbon wise) than burning gas in a CCGT station allmthe way down to -5C, which is fairly rare in this country.

 

Even at -7C it puts out 2kw, enough for most rooms even with fairly minimal insulation and though the cop is fairly rubbish it's still 2:1, which isnvery useful vs electric.

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 5 months later...
On 19/06/2024 at 00:07, moonbug said:

@Beelbeebub did you install any of these in the end? If so, how did they work out for you? I'm considering similar.

Sorry I can't help, I haven't got around to trying one yet. Mulling over this or just biting the bullet and going for a full HP job.

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