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Hot water and heating control with my Mitsubishi Ecodan Air-Source Heat Pump (ASHP)?

  • 25 October 2021
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Hi there, new to all this, and just had the heatpump installed and I've tried to find out answers to my questions but not getting much help!  So hoping someone here knows more 🙏   I tried to post a question as a new thread but it is not easy to do....so replying here, in the hope someone can help me and it gets read?  Many thanks.

So my heatpump setting and hot water setting are both on standby, but I assume it is the pump in the cupboard making a noise (running) fan is not running, and from what I've read here, this is because of low outside temperatures and to stop pipes freezing?  My question is, is this costing me money?   If I have my heat on (it's not off, just i have temp set lower as I have a chinchilla and we don't like it too hot) would that reduce the need for the pump to run on it's own?  On days like this week we might have some heat running first thing and after 7pm for a while, I imagine when it's very cold like tonight I'll leave it on say 15, so it would probably come on and off during the night.  I usually have it set on 16, when I want the heat on, room temp is usually between 15-16....and having heat on to go to 16, actually heats the bedroom to nearly 18, which is fine but I don't want it higher than that.  I should say we are in a one bed bungalow and boiler and pump are in living room pantry which backs into the bedroom.

The other thing is the hot water seems to heat everyday, I also read on here, the water heats up when it drops 10 degrees from set temp.  I have no idea what that set temp is....but I've seen the temp on the panel as high as 59, and as low as 43.   I cannot change these temps.  It is too hot for me as I only use hot water for hands and washing up as I have an electric shower and no bath.  I feeling such a waste reheating everyday.  I did ring the tech people, they said putting it on a timer would cost me more?  Is that right?  When I switch to octopus cosy tariff I dont want it turning on between 4-7pm as it will be way more expensive then!  So I'm unsure what to do there, and I recall the installer saying after initial setup water is free, not sure how but is this reheating costing me, it must be?

I'm sure I had another question but I can't think what it was at the moment!  But if anyone could help that would be great.

 

Thank you 😊 

juliamc
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Hi @Auds we will help !! Can you tell us a bit more about your system: is it an Ecodan or another make ? Can you post a photo of the controller screen so we can see how it’s set up. Where are you in the country ?

You can definitely change the hot water to heat to your own requirements and it is better to not heat to above 50 degrees, which would be more efficient with a heat pump (hand hot is nearer 42deg I think). Your installer probably set it up to heat it to 60 deg once a week to kill off legionella, but the general feeling is that it is not necessary in most cases. If you were storing hot water for use in a care home or hospital that’s different, but showers are the most likely place where it occurs and as you have an electric shower it isn’t relevant.

 

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Hi Juliamc,

 

Just sent photo of control panel as it is now.  Water was 61 a bit ago!  Burn my hands lol!  Yes it is an ecodan.  I'm in Staffordshire.  Ahhh that may be why its heated to 61 today then.  But it also heats up everyday as and when it likes, whenever the temperature of the water drops to 40-40 something.  I feel that's such a waste of energy.  

juliamc
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@amanda1 will explain the controls (mine is a different make so not much help here). She also had her room temp cool like yours - I’m a soft southerner and mine is 22degrees. You’ll get a very efficient system running it around 16 to 18 deg*. Although it seems wrong you could leave it at a steady temp all night and day, like you would the fridge. Then the heat pump will tick along nicely. It’s the stopping and starting up again which makes it inefficient.

Each time it heats the hot water it stops sending heat to your radiators, so it’s best to schedule the hot water at a time when you will least notice. Mines done at night (00:30 on cheap rate) and at 14:30 when the outside air is warmest so more efficient. You’ll probably only need one heat up and on your system you can set how long that runs for.


*your system would probably have been designed to run at 21 degrees indoors so it may not be efficient to run it at your low temps. I’m only basing that on stuff I’ve read as I’m not a real heating engineer!!! I may well have misunderstood.

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Hi, thanks for info.....I'm still unsure how to actually set everything and can I change the setup 21degrees as if it will never be efficient then what is the point of having it? I told the engineer I don't want it hotter than 18 due to my chinchilla and that we don't like it hot, so would have hoped he'd have listened to me.  I did see 23 on the control at one point the day he was doing it all.   I think I'm going to have to ring Broadoaks and ask them to send out an engineer to go through it with me and set it up to my preferences.....I can't afford to be paying silly money for something I don't really need to use that much really.  I had no choice in having the system as I'm in council property.   They installed solar too, but I don't think they are working as the app shows no productivity at all.  I'm anxious and annoyed.  I'm all for green energy but I need to understand how to use it and keep cost down and heat low.  Thanks for your replies though, appreciate it....could really do with an engineer coming here and going through it properly with me as I didnt get anything other than very basics explained.

juliamc
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The installer should explain the controls but when it’s all new it’s difficult to remember everything that’s said. They have a habit of saying it’s all set up for you don’t touch anything (that’s what mine said). If you told the installer you wanted 18 that should work fine, ignore my prev comment!!


There are some videos of Ecodan controls which are useful, just to get a hang of what’s possible. I’ll get some links…

M.isterW
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Let's start with your hot water. At the moment it's set to reheat when the cylinder temperature drops. Many of us find that inconvenient so we change it to heat the water once or twice a day on a timer. Have a look on YouTube for instructions on how to change the settings.

Next, your hot water is probably hotter than you need. Turn the temperature down (again, instructions on YouTube) until it is just hot enough for your needs. I think ours is at 50 degrees.

1992 4 bed detached house. Solar PV + battery, Zappi EV charger, Mitsubishi Ecodan ASHP and i-life2 fan assisted radiators.... No gas 😊
juliamc
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This video shows the three heating modes that the Ecodan can run. @Auds  yours is running on Auto Adaptive which is shown 2mins 10secs in. It will vary the flow temp (ie the temp of the water in the radiators) depending on the outside temperature. Your installer would have set the weather dependent graph already. As the video shows, you set the room temp you require and the system will adjust itself accordingly. Your best bet is to set it to 18deg and leave it like that night and day. 
Have a look at that and report back !! Meanwhile I’ll see if I can find more about setting the hot water.

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Lots of people find auto adapt mode to be the most efficient way to run an Ecodan heat pump. Don't be tempted to vary the temperature too much during the day. As Julia says, it's better to set a temperature and leave it although some people like it colder at night so it's okay to drop it a couple of degrees.

You mention switching to Cosy Octopus. If you do, you can heat your water and warm the house during the cheap periods.

1992 4 bed detached house. Solar PV + battery, Zappi EV charger, Mitsubishi Ecodan ASHP and i-life2 fan assisted radiators.... No gas 😊
juliamc
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I’m now trying leaving my temperature the same night and day. On octopus Go I get 4 cheap hours at night when typically the heating hasn’t been running as it’s been set back from 9pm to 6am. Those cheap hours are just when the house loses a bit of heat then the hp’s been fired up in the standard price hours. I tried Cosy but it didn’t suit us, I think it would work fine with a battery, so you can charge up in the 2 cheap 3 hour slots, then run the house on the battery during the 3 expensive hours.

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This is a lot to take in .....thank you everyone.  

I'd rather leave my temperature at 16degrees as I think the room temp reader is reading temp incorrectly and it heats bedroom to 17.5 when set on 16, so setting at 18 would be too much for us, as it would end up being nearly 20 degrees.  But I can trial that.  Although saying that I dont want the heating on between 4-7pm, so do I just bring desired temp down below room temp to turn it off then? Rather than setting timers or schedules as they are called?   

And for my hot water it already comes on once a day at whatever time it fancies....can I not have it come on every other day, or is that not efficient?

Also I haven't a clue if the engineer set it to 18 or not, I'm going to have to call him aren't I.  And he did point out very basics and said to leave it....said I could turn it down to 10 at night if didnt want it on....I imagine he meant during summer.  I have no idea!  

But I will watch the videos, thank you all.  I'll get back to you.

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Oh I dont have a battery, this government scheme doesn't include them grrr .....I'll try to save up for one in the future.  

juliamc
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Yes set the controller to 16 degrees, that’ll work fine. I don’t have a battery either… one day !!

If you’re at home then you can just take the room temp on the controller down a degree at the start of the peak rate, then back up at the end of the peak rate. See how that goes, though to be honest the heat pump will run more smoothly without the stop/start, and you may not save anything in the long run. It’s a super efficient piece of kit !!

juliamc
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This video explains how to set timings on the ecodan. In it he says the process is the same for heating or hot water. You can have timings set for individual days of the week, so @Auds you can set it for maybe Tuesday Thursday and Saturday and leave it off for the other days. It would be interesting to know how it’s set at the moment. This video doesn’t say where to switch off the legionella cycle (which may be called “disinfectant”), but you may already have found that. 
Let me know how you’re getting on with it. 

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Hi everyone,  well lastnight I left it on 15, and I haven't touched it since.  It was on during the night at some point heating us up, and then it came on late morning too, just the heating.  The hot water is currently at 46 and hasn't heated today, so I reckon that is because I left heating to come on......I'm now praying it doesn't come back on until after 7pm!  Fingers crossed.   The room is holding temperature well at present and all afternoon. 

Also even better news.....yet why it's taken over a week to happen.....the company who installed them aresending someone out Friday to do a walk through of the work carried out, and to go through the controls with me!!! Yes!!! So thank god for that....I'd sent a huge message of questions to the ecodan manufacturers today too lol.  

He also clarified that my solarisnt switched on yet!!!  There was me constantly checking the app thinking why is it at zero and not working doh!!!  So wish they had said this to me earlier as I'd not have stressed so much!  Anyway so looks like all will be explained.   I will update you.

Oh and in the schedule its all blue so no schedule has been done at all, just on all the time.....I'll find out what the temps etc are from this guy and ask him to tweak for me, or talk me through while I do it, as I learn better by doing it as I'm told how to.

Thanks so much to you all.  I'll be back Fri or Sat to update you 😁🤗

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This is so not funny!! Bloody hot water comes on at 6pm, water was 46 degrees!!! It's still going now and it's reached 54 degrees for crying out loud.  That guy is going to be changing it on Friday lol!  I'm not impressed!

juliamc
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That’s very annoying. I’ve found this video which explains how to set up the legionella program, unfortunately it doesn’t mention how to switch it off, but it does show how to see the way the timings have been set up. You could run through the video and then check what’s actually set up on yours. It sounds like it could be running very often, and at 6pm is a ridiculous time to run it anyway as it’s during peak hours. What a shame the installer isn’t paying your electricity bill. Then he’d think twice about the setup.

Having seen what your settings are (please report back if you find out) you might be able to switch it off just by deselecting the tick. That may make more sense when you see the video which is all I have to go on. Sorry I don’t know more about your system 🤦‍♀️

 

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That video is great but oh look I do not have an edit button!!!  I was about to sort it then, well the guy on Friday is going to be sorting this out for sure!!  I can untick it though......I'll speak to the guy on Friday.   So I guess I can't change my hot water temps either, or know what they are! So annoying! It's going to be costing me a fortune!  Just had email from octopus they took 4.57 for from 29-30 Jan....not sure why they doing that and not monthly, but I also hope that is charge for both the 29th and 30th as4.57 a day is not good! 

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juliamc
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Sorry, I can’t help there as I don’t know the controller. I hope Friday’s visit will sort it out.

Finger’s crossed !! That ECO is a good sign at least.

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That's ok, you've been a great help and so have the others.  It is greatly appreciated 🙏 

Yes I'm happy to see eco!  My heating just kicked in....I was feeling bit nippy too so good timing there! 

Oh and I'm happy it's over two days and I only used 12.5kwh over that time.  Still on flexible tariff though, I thought I'd already gone on cosy, maybe its tomorrow,  new month and all.

 

I'll let you know what happens on Friday. 

 

I best go give lots of attention to my chinchilla now, or he'll get upset with me lol.

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Emmanuelle_OVO
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Your Chinchilla is so sweet! 

 

Please do keep us posted if you can, with the engineer visit. It may be helpful for other Community Members @Auds 🙂

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Emmanuelle Pippin says thank you and yes he fooled everyone 🤣🤣  no he is a sweetie 90% of the time lol. 

Yes I will do.

 

Annoyed again as I've not long got back from shops and damn hot water come on!!!  It went down to 43 this time....makes no sense!   That will all be changing tomorrow! 

 

 

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