Sunamp Thermino in 2025?

[Workerbee]

Hello! What are people's feelings about the Sunamp Thermino in 2025? I've read every discussion thread I can find, including a few excellent detailed ones on this forum; however, many of them seem to be from a few years ago and I couldn't find much recent discussion; and given this is a rapidly emerging technology I thought it might be worth revisiting.

 

The main benefit is size; there are others, but that's the key one. On the other hand, many of the threads mentioned issues with customer service, and reliability. Towards the end of several threads I got the impression some of the reliability issues were to do with early models, and firmware updates and newer versions had solved them. Is this the case, and has the customer service improved, too?

 

Any thoughts greatly appreciated!

[JohnMo]

Have you seen recent threads? Several failures, wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.

 

Pretty rubbish for a heat pump as it requires heat pump running at high temperature for the whole heating cycle.

 

Just get an unvented cylinder - tried, tested, cheap, installer friendly. Does the wheel need to be reinvented? No

[Workerbee]

Thanks @JohnMo - no, I couldn't seem to find much beyond about 2023. I got the impression from the threads I'd read that most of the issues (leakages, charging only after dropping below 50%, etc) were mainly from early models. 

 

I'm an all-electric house, so I'm looking at the direct version (Thermino ePlus). The size and shape is the main attraction for me, as I could stick it in a cupboard. In terms of a direct unvented cylinder, I could find a way to fit one in if I had to, but it's not ideal. Finding an installer isn't straightforward, either; of the 5 or so I've had around, two didn't bother quoting, two were expensive to the point the Sunamp is the cheaper option, and one was suspiciously cheap. 

[nod]

I spoke to a couple of HP installers 

regarding Sunamp Both had the same views as John 

[Workerbee]

Thanks @nod - what was the issue the installers had with them?

[nod]

5 minutes ago, Workerbee said:

Thanks @nod - what was the issue the installers had with them?

They both said unreliable and outdated 

[Nickfromwales]

16 hours ago, Workerbee said:

two were expensive to the point the Sunamp is the cheaper option

Erm….how much were you quoted for an UVC to be installed??

 

Sunamp / Thermino’s supplied and fitted are absolutely insane money. Spoke to a guy the other day who got billed £7k for a 9 (210) unit. 

[Nickfromwales]

16 hours ago, Workerbee said:

I got the impression from the threads I'd read that most of the issues (leakages, charging only after dropping below 50%, etc) were mainly from early models. 

I fitted 3 of the earlier units in one large multi-bathroom etc (£4m) house and they just dropped like flies.

 

SA changed them for the “new and improved” unit, and they then snuffed it one at a time. Terrible build quality, you’ll find pics I posted on here.

 

I worked directly for SA for a couple of years, and my sole purpose was going to disgruntled clients to be shouted at because of the lack of communication etc. As the fella in charge is a social media hog it appears people on BuildHub get suspiciously good levels of service, but that’s not been the case offline I assure you, in my direct experience. 
 

One client got refused an exchange as they said it was a ‘non standard’ installation, the laugh was that they approved my design prior to them going in, ffs 🤦‍♂️

 

The only true measure you can really get of these is by speaking to installers (who want the kill) or reading here (and not realising it is pure marketing BS that they react immediately and “go the extra mile”).

 

They didn’t for a poor lady who was washing her hair in the kitchen sink for 13 weeks…….

[Workerbee]

11 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

Erm….how much were you quoted for an UVC to be installed??

One was £2230, and the other was £3600. This is for a direct uvc (I think one was 170l gledhill, the other was unspecified) and pipework. Two others didn't turn up, another wanted to charge to quote, and the sixth offered to do it for £250 labour if I piped up to the cylinder (which is what I requested, to keep costs down). At that price, I wonder what he'd be like. Alternatively, I can get a 210 directly heated sunamp for £2k and fit it myself. Coupled with having a small property where space is an issue, the sunamp seemed a great solution in theory.

Thank you for sharing your experience, @Nickfromwales - very useful. I'd read your comments on a previous thread when I was researching. It would be a great shame if quality and service hasn't improved.

[JohnMo]

7 hours ago, Workerbee said:

sixth offered to do it for £250 labour

That's a good price, make sure he has the G3 certificate. Once the pipes are at the cylinder, which is job from the sounds of it there really isn't that much to do piping wise.

 

Is this new build or retrofit? What are you doing with cold water going the taps, is that coming from the cylinder multibloc control valve?

 

If not you need to plan a pressure regulator valve where the water comes in to the property after the stop cock, so hot and cold pressure stays in balance. If going that route you also need a check valve at the hot water outlet from the cylinder.

 

Isn't a 210L cylinder pretty big for a direct cylinder where you can easily heat to 70+ degs?

 

 

 

[Workerbee]

Thank you @JohnMo - yes, £250 seems very cheap, which made me question it. Rough prices on text message rather than a formal quotation make me nervous! My fear would be deciding on a uvc over the sunamp then finding I can no longer get hold of him when the time came. 

 

The 210 was the sunamp size (uvc litre equivalent); the next one down is 150, and with potentially 4 showers a day from a powerful shower, I thought I should play it safe. If going with a uvc I was thinking of a 180l. I'd probably go with the multibloc solution. 

 

On paper, the sunamp is the much better solution for me both in size and price, so it's very sad that it's let down by reliability and customer service. I could forgive the former if the latter was excellent. That's why I wondered if anyone had had experience in the last year or so in the hope that things had improved, as much of the online discussion is from 2023 or earlier.

[Russdl]

@Workerbee  

 

Not recent experience as such, we’ve had our Sunamp UniQ eHW 12 up and running for about four and a half years. A thermistor string failed shortly after it was commissioned and that was promptly replaced.

 

Other than that it just sits there quietly doing its thing. If we suffer a major failure in the future (which I guess must be on the cards) I’m pretty sure we’d get another one. 

 

There was/is clearly a risk being an early adopter with any new technology but it was a risk we were comfortable to take. The arguments ‘for’ are thin and there are plenty of arguments ‘against’ on here but we’re still firmly in the ‘for’ camp. 

[Workerbee]

Thank you for that, @Russdl. Do you find the flow rate is as good as a uvc? Sunamp mentions main pressure hot water but nothing about flow rate, and I wondered if it might get restricted in order to maintain temperature, particularly when the incoming mains temperature drops in winter. I'm keen to have a decent shower experience!

[Russdl]

The flow rate at the shower is around 12 l/min, the incoming mains supply is 15 l/min (and 3bar).
I can’t compare it to an UVC as we’ve only had a Sunamp in this house.
 

We have two showers and when they both run at the same time there is perhaps a small drop in flow but if you didn’t know you wouldn’t know. 
 

We have an accumulator that helps when both showers are running as our mains supply is a bit meagre. 

[DamonHD]

For the record our Thermino is doing just fine, helping us soak up solar PV in the middle of the day in particular and reducing how much DHW we need from the heat pump.

 

https://www.earth.org.uk/note-on-solar-DHW-for-16WW-UniQ-and-PV-diversion.html

 

An alternative these days is to have (more) electric/mains battery along with the heat pump to act as a store.

Edited yesterday at 12:36 by DamonHD