Haier R290 Monobloc

[JohnMo]

So took delivery of the 4kW Haier ASHP today. So far first impressions are very good. Consists of an outdoor unit, complete with expansion vessel and pressure relief valve, inside the monobloc.

 

Inside the packaging is also a controller and indoor wiring unit. So can return the one I thought I had to buy. So total cost is £2100 delivered to the door from Wolesely.

 

Photos to follow with full install story

[JohnMo]

Some photos 

Indoor wiring centre with controller installed (no wiring installed).

Simple install screened cable to outside unit and power.

 

Cover on and wing complete, all metal casing and very heavy duty. No sharp edges. 

 

Outdoor unit, for a 4kW unit it's pretty big, the condenser and fan are very big compared to the Maxa unit currently installed which is a 6kW.

 

[JohnMo]

Just need some warmer weather to allow old heat pump to be removed and this one installed.

 

Have had to add antifreeze valves, part of the warranty conditions. Have got Inta Zero ones that reference water temperature not air temperature. Brand new half price bargain from eBay.

 

 

[ProDave]

Following with interest.

 

One of the things that bugs me about heat pumps, is there is no standard for how you wire them.  Mine, an LG needs a LOT of individual connections to the heat pump itself.  It looks like with yours all those connections go to this indoor box presumably connected to the outside unit with a simple cable.

 

It makes swapping from one heat pump to a different make a lot more complicated.

[SimonD]

Be interesting to see how you get on. I've been keepng an eye on Haier since Graham Hendra went to work there. That's a very good price and surprising the controls come with it as the brochures says controls are sold separate.

 

One question/comment is that the expansion tanks seem quite small at 4.5 & 8l? Is this correct and what does the technical documentation say about system volumes with those?

Edited 23 hours ago by SimonD

[JohnMo]

7 minutes ago, SimonD said:

That's a very good price and surprising the controls come with it as the brochures says controls are sold separate.

Yes and Wolesely don't tell you any different. They want a restocking fee to take it back.

 

8 minutes ago, SimonD said:

One question/comment is that the expansion tanks seem quite small at 4.5 & 8l? Is this correct and what does the technical documentation say about system volumes with those?

They do sound small, I keeping my 50L volumiser in system so will retain the existing expansion vessel in circuit.

[Beelbeebub]

Holy crap! Is that wiring center also the controller ie the outdoor unit has no brains at all and it's all inside?  That seems like a lot of relays, chips and the like just to connect the various valves, pumps and thermostats.l!

[JohnMo]

There is the inverter controller outside but I think the indoor wiring centre controls most things

 

The relay is for cylinder immersion control. You can drive a couple of secondary pumps, mixer valve, 3 port valve etc. plus lots more.

[JohnMo]

40 minutes ago, SimonD said:

One question/comment is that the expansion tanks seem quite small at 4.5 & 8l? Is this correct and what does the technical documentation say about system volumes with those

Didn't answer fully before

[Iceverge]

Why the change from your 6kW unit?

[JohnMo]

4 minutes ago, Iceverge said:

Why the change from your 6kW unit?

It's minimum modulation is near 4kW, house demand is only 3.5kW max.

 

Normal run of things I wouldn't change it, but we have just bought a wooden hot tub, so will repurpose the old unit to heating the hot tub, instead of the normal wood fired heater.

 

So get a heat pump more appropriate to the house demand. Should make a decent dent in running costs, with better CoP in summer and winter, for very little money.

[Iceverge]

You could just have put the MVHR on summer bypass! 

 

 

 

[JohnMo]

22 minutes ago, Iceverge said:

You could just have put the MVHR on summer bypass! 

 

 

 

Nope not enough cooling effect. UFH in cooling mode leads to a nice house 

[Iceverge]

I meant in the winter........

 

Save the heat pump having to cycle...

[JohnMo]

7 minutes ago, Iceverge said:

I meant in the winter........

 

Save the heat pump having to cycle...

MVHR dies summer bypass automatically cannot change it, not sure how it helps, unless it increases heat demand, which not sure below the back pocket 

[Iceverge]

I was being frivolous. Suggesting it might be less hassle to just use more energy to stop the ASHP cycling like Tadje Pogaçar on Alpe d'Huez rather than chucking it entirely.

Edited 19 hours ago by Iceverge

[dpmiller]

I do a bit with Haier -80 lab freezers and they're very good indeed.

[JohnMo]

19 minutes ago, Iceverge said:

chucking it entirely

It's just being repurposed - the 6kW unit will be used to heat 1700 litres of water (hot tub).

 

24 minutes ago, dpmiller said:

I do a bit with Haier -80 lab freezers and they're very good indeed.

Just been outside with dog, while I was waiting about I was feeling all the edges of the metal, everything seems nice and rounded off, nothing sharp at all.

 

90+kg to move about, that will be fun - not.

 

Set up the controller this afternoon, only thing I can't do is load the WC curve, because the unit doesn't see the flow and return temps as no outdoor unit is connected.

 

Had a look at the electrical draw

The whole wiring centre and controller pulls a continuous 14W.

[-rick-]

15 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

It's just being repurposed - the 6kW unit will be used to heat 1700 litres of water (hot tub).

 

Getting a bit off-topic but what are you using as the heat exchanger between the tub water and the ASHP?

 

15 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

The whole wiring centre and controller pulls a continuous 14W.

 

Not great, not terrible. Is that with the ASHP plugged into the controls or just the controls?

[JohnMo]

1 minute ago, -rick- said:

Getting a bit off-topic but what are you using as the heat exchanger between the tub water and the ASHP?

No, but also not using any chemicals either, so no need for titanium heat exchanger.

 

2 minutes ago, -rick- said:

Not great, not terrible. Is that with the ASHP plugged into the controls or just the controls?

ASHP not connected yet. But when running, modulation down to 1kW should mean it just runs, so should never see the 14W on its own and should be accounted for in the running CoP.

[-rick-]

5 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

No, but also not using any chemicals either, so no need for titanium heat exchanger.

 

Good luck with that! I didn't think plate heat exchangers would last long when exposed to pool type water.

[JohnMo]

5 minutes ago, -rick- said:

pool type water.

No chlorine, so not really pool type water. Will monitor pH and drop and top as needed to that in check

[-rick-]

12 hours ago, JohnMo said:

No chlorine, so not really pool type water. Will monitor pH and drop and top as needed to that in check

 

More thinking of biological gunk blocking it than corrosion.

[JohnMo]

1 hour ago, -rick- said:

 

More thinking of biological gunk blocking it than corrosion.

You can cover this in another thread rather than clogging this one up. Just need to start it.

[JohnMo]

Jobs done today

The feet I bought to go underground the heat pump were 1m long, so trim them down to a more manageable length of 800mm.

 

Moved the heat pump from patio to closer to the final location.  Used a simple garage trolley located under the manufacturers pallet. Next job is to cut off the pallet away at the light end (condenser end) and affix a foot. This will give something to lever against so when in final position the remaining pallet can be removed and the other two feet added.

 

Completed all wiring as far as possible. So 3 core cable for power, 2x0.75 screened cable to outside unit and further 2 core to the smart grid connection (can't complete this as cable from house is currently connected to other heat pump.

 

I heat the summer house as part of the same zone as the house, it runs at 18 to 19.5 normally, but sometimes we need it warmer, so I normally use a thermostat to trigger a second setpoint for the heat pump, which works fine and floor just buffers the heat. The Hiaer unit, I will utilise the smart grid connection, and set a 2 Deg uplift in flow temp when the connections across terminals for SG2 (EVU signal) are closed. The same connection can reduce the cooling flow temp should I need it.

 

Also made some covers out of excess OSB from the house build, to cover some gravel I need to travel over.

 

Looks like next weekend to do the heat pump change over.