Heat pumps?

[BMWST?]

Our house is nine years old and only 70 sqm..the 6kw heat pump is big enough.

yes thatll do it!

[george formby]

mitre 10 and placemakers have pellets,and "ablaze" have pellets.they seem to be all different suppliers.Alternatively you can buy pallets(a tonne) at a time .I buy ten 15 kg bags at a time for about 11 bucks each.each bag lasts about 3 evenings heating our poorly insulated 40 to 50 sq m lounge dining room of a typical 50s bungalow.
pros are push button start, automatic regulation,can be set to come on automatically,relatively clean and simple to keep fuelled.Cons are need electricicty,the fans always make some noise(think of a fan heater on low),they need to be cleaned of very fine ash,and they are complex compared to a woodburner.They are supposedly quite efficient but you pay to play.ours is a quite modest 6 kw unit and being an insert maybe not quite as good as a freestander
edit main con i think is they are more expensive to buy and to install you need a new or close by power point.One of the suppliers early on in our search suggested it would be quite easy to have a pellet burner run of a battery for security of operation during a power cut.

Yup, I run computer fans I've scavenged to silently waft the warmth around. Run them off my old bike battery. Lasts for yonks.

[eldog]

Ok basically decided to go with diaken Cora heat pump(s) so independent settings for each room and off when not occupied.

from Drews comments before smartphone control seems to be a 'nice option' but is it worth the hassles?

the units seem to have a timer/heat settings for multiple time periods for the day/week which would suit me, when I am riding....

i got got a price to get a ventilation system installed as well to push 'filtered air' in from outside possibly north side as this is generally drier than the south. Included a heat recovery unit which can be bypassed in summer. Have I gone overboard? The ventilation price is 5600 installed
i think I will give it a miss and once the remediation stuff has finished maybe revisit this or use the money on another bike .....
smartvent, HRV, DVS et al all very similar. Even use approximately the same parts?
not convinced as yet.

next stop remove recessed downlights and replace with coverable led lights and improve the insulation which has sagged (less than 50mm)

forgot to ask, power heat pump units from local wiring supply or run it back to the main distribution board?
yes I am getting a COC for each unit. All proper like.

[MarkH]

I have a small Mitsubishi Hypercore in my bedroom, 2.5kW I think it is. Personally I think it is the best choice by far - it isn't like I'm going to put any kind of wood, coal or pellet burner in a small bedroom. The high wall heat pump in winter needs to be aimed to blow the air down or else it just warms the air near the ceiling. In Summer it is fuckin' fantastic though, just need to run it on low and that lovely cool air just falls down to where I'm sitting typing shit in the Kiwi Biker forums and that feels so good on a hot day!

For me the biggest problem was not having a/c in summer time. My alarm goes off before 2:30am each weekday, I NEED to go to bed early - in summer that is damn hard when it is way too hot to sleep. Cooling my room before I go to sleep makes it possible to get some sleep in so that I'm fit for work each day. People can rave all they like about pellet burners and log burners, but it is a shit load easier to heat up in winter than cool down in summer and I can't see how any kind of burner is going to be of any use in summer! My heat pump works really well in winter and in summer, you can't beat that!

Me in summer =>

[george formby]

I'm impressed with Mitsubishi products in my limited experience. We have a portable de-humidifier which is a few years old but does an amazing job. I also noticed a hotel on the sea front in Paihia has recently replaced all the air con / heat pump units for their rooms, replaced with Mitsubishi again. The old units had been in place for at least 10 years but were still working, they were replaced due to the sea air corroding the housings, which are on the roof, and potentially being unsafe should we get a cyclone or some such.

[eldog]

OK now have installed heat pump by a pro.

Any way I should test it?

I am only asking because I noticed that in auto mode it runs for a bit then stops for a few seconds then starts again I suppose it is changing over from heat to cool mode.

The outdoor unit has a 20 amp rating while the circuit breaker is a 16.

Otherwise is almost fool proof to use.

Certainly took a while to get used to. Now I don't notice it.

[Drew]

OK now have installed heat pump by a pro.

Any way I should test it?

I am only asking because I noticed that in auto mode it runs for a bit then stops for a few seconds then starts again I suppose it is changing over from heat to cool mode.

The outdoor unit has a 20 amp rating while the circuit breaker is a 16.

Otherwise is almost fool proof to use.

Certainly took a while to get used to. Now I don't notice it.

The outdoor unit is labelled 20amp Max current, or the isolator is rated to 20amp?

Your installer should have tested it, I encourage people to select heat or cool. Auto can be a pain in the arse.

[Maha]

Yip heat or cool, choose the desired temperature and let it do it's job. The snow flake icon is beaut on the hottest of days, during summer here, it can be high 20's to low 30's degs. Got home a few weeks ago after being out for the day it was 28 inside at 5pm.. even with the windows and doors open it's to hot to cool down, dropped probably 2 degs so we set the heat pump and went to the club for a couple of beers.

[eldog]

The outdoor unit is labelled 20amp Max current, or the isolator is rated to 20amp?

Your installer should have tested it, I encourage people to select heat or cool. Auto can be a pain in the arse.

Outdoor unit 20 Amp
Isolator 20 A

Circuit breaker 16 A

will try heat/cool to see the effect vs auto which i figure is the machine bouncing around trying to use either method.

its mainly to be used for summer cooling

[Drew]

Outdoor unit 20 Amp
Isolator 20 A

Circuit breaker 16 A

will try heat/cool to see the effect vs auto which i figure is the machine bouncing around trying to use either method.

its mainly to be used for summer cooling

That's very strange. I imagine the installer has run 2.5mm cable for the feed. Though the cable is rated to 20amp it's not allowed to be on a 20 amp breaker in residential applications.

If he knows his shit, there's a very chance it will never be an issue. Or, when the unit is properly stressed it'll pop the breaker. In which case he'll have to run the feed in 4mm.

[caspernz]

OK now have installed heat pump by a pro.

Any way I should test it?

I am only asking because I noticed that in auto mode it runs for a bit then stops for a few seconds then starts again I suppose it is changing over from heat to cool mode.

The outdoor unit has a 20 amp rating while the circuit breaker is a 16.

Otherwise is almost fool proof to use.

Certainly took a while to get used to. Now I don't notice it.

Unless you want a huge power bill don't run it on AUTO. It'll just run 24/7 trying to maintain a set temp indoors when outdoors varies.

More economical approach is to use the HEAT or COOL function as it then just turns off or idles back once the set point is reached.

[eldog]

That's very strange. I imagine the installer has run 2.5mm cable for the feed. Though the cable is rated to 20amp it's not allowed to be on a 20 amp breaker in residential applications.

If he knows his shit, there's a very chance it will never be an issue. Or, when the unit is properly stressed it'll pop the breaker. In which case he'll have to run the feed in 4mm.

I will ask the question, hopefully the comissioning is tomorrow or next week. so much stuff going on.....

I suspect there is something I havent noticed about the unit. The installation looks quite good, apart from a small bit when the appentices were left alone.

Thanks CASPERNZ will run it in either mode, (Its another question I have to ask, there are a few more..... sometimes I know more about the products than the salesperson)

waiting for the weather to change so I can RUN it proper like.

[eldog]

Asked the question about 20A outdoor unit and 16A circuit breaker, something to do with the amount of cooling available to indoor unit.

will have to wait till it gets hot I guess.

otherwise nice to have a cooler house.

[Drew]

Asked the question about 20A outdoor unit and 16A circuit breaker, something to do with the amount of cooling available to indoor unit.

will have to wait till it gets hot I guess.

otherwise nice to have a cooler house.

I'm not sure what they mean by that. But all right.

Edit.

Unless he means the unit is so oversized that it's never gonna need to work above 75% capacity.

[eldog]

Unless he means the unit is so oversized that it's never gonna need to work above 75% capacity.

I think this was what he thought.
his answer wasn't 100% convincing.

seems to be an honest type, building up a business.

i know a hell of a lot more about heat pumps, air con, DVS HRV etc than I did 6 months ago.

esp heat pump controls, what they don't tell you.

i rather have it oversized, but would of rather had provision for it(wiring size) at the start. A bit of cable doesn't cost anywhere the cost of labour putting it in then later removing it and replacing it with a larger cable.

anyway it cools and heats, quieter than I originally thought and the outdoor units are quiet for the neighbours.

onto the next project LED lights.