@transparent got me concerned now so had a look at the pipes under the house. Not what I expected.

Posted by: @david999

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@editor it could remain like that for over an hour at least, unfortunately I don’t know how fast it defrosts

In my case it defrosts in a minute or two, I've not timed it, but when it pumps the warm water back through the ice melts and runs down the pump into the gravel soakaway placed below. I shall take a photo of mine later on when it isn't raining.

@guthrie are there controls and settings on the panel that might assist @david999 in tweaking his defrost timings.

Posted by: @editor

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@guthrie are there controls and settings on the panel that might assist @david999 in tweaking his defrost timings.

Good question.  I've looked in the Installation manual but it doesn't say much about defrost settings, just that there is one.  I will need to look through the menus tomorrow.

Posted by: @david999

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@editor it could remain like that for over an hour at least, unfortunately I don’t know how fast it defrosts

The way that a heat pump defrosts is by reversing the direction that the refrigerant gas flows around the heat pump unit, so instead of absorbing thermal energy from the outside air and putting this thermal energy into the central heating water, it takes thermal energy from the central heating water and uses this to warm the refrigerant gas and melt the ice that has built up on the evaporator coils.

For the defrost cycle to be successfully carried out there must therefore be sufficient thermal energy within the central heating water to complete the melting of the ice. The first thing to check is that the central heating system contains a sufficient volume of water. How much water is contained within the heat emitters and pipework? Does your system contain a buffer tank or plate heat exchanger? Is the water pump or pumps running during the defrost cycle?

I would suggest that you investigate the above.

I believe that the defrost cycle is initiated by the fall in the refrigerant gas temperature coming out of the evaporator, which is caused by the ice build up reducing the quantity of thermal energy that can be absorbed from the outside air.

I would suggest that you record all the readings shown within the heat pump controller and note down which are changing as the heat pump operates and goes into a defrost cycle, then post the results for analysis.

@editor the controls are too complex for me sadly I’m 66 and been relying on others for advice. They are returning to rectify the insulation issues and sending out their leading engineer I’m told. I requested a Samsung engineer attend but they don’t agree although I will get one out to service it later in the year.   

in relation to the pipes that pass through the suspended concrete slab floors how would you insulate those since you would need to core cut holes large enough to allow insulation. 

it presents to me that firstly they have a standard format they follow and it’s not a custom install so whether it should have a buffer tank etc I guess is unknown.  They left telling me it will heat up soon and should be fine and no checks done.  In relation to the defrost it strikes me that it’s coming on too late and that the unit freezes up and remains like that for over an hour. The photos I posted would be at its worst but I imagine that long before that the heating loses flow and stops working so perhaps in the early stage there is no heat to defrost and some other device kicks in once it’s totally clogged with ice.  Samsung said there is a lot of ice and that there are several parameters the unit looks for to defrost and I’m guessing it needs equipment connected to test this process. The installer said the ice is normal but I timed it from when I noticed the build up and it remained for over an hour so clearly it would have been frozen before I noticed. And I imagine no heat produced in the rads during this, or it switched to the buffer tank and not enough heat to defrost. But no idea if I’m honest. 

its so nice to get some help from you guys I’m so stressed with it all. 

Posted by: @david999

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Samsung said there is a lot of ice

Perhaps that should become Samsung's slogan. We've experienced countless issues with our Samsung fridge freezer, one saga after another. Despite paying for several service calls to fix our ice maker, here's a photo of it today. It's certainly making ice, including in areas where it absolutely shouldn't.

For those of you who are considering a Samsung fridge, don't do it: https://myhomefarm.co.uk/samsung-fridge-freezer-not-fit-for-purpose

Posted by: @david999

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its so nice to get some help from you guys I’m so stressed with it all. 

I know it's stressful. The good news is that at least your installers are coming out to have a look. That's usually half the battle, so hopefully they'll get to the bottom of it.  

As for them not wanting the Samsung engineer there, that's a bit odd. Would you like me to raise this with Samsung on your behalf. They might volunteer to send someone out to have a look.

Here are a couple of photos of our one, which I have not seen covered in ice this month despite there being quite a few cold days. They did core the wall enough to get insulation through, and also note that they have used plastic wrapping stuff to keep it on rather than over tight zip ties which compress the insulation and make it worse as well as probably falling off in 5 or 10 years.

@editor a Samsung engineer would be a great help to cast his eyes over and snag any faults. This could go on for a bit since I don’t know what to look for and you guys have snagged bits I thought ok.

On the subject of pipe runs there are a great deal of radiators on the ground floor that are piped through the concrete slab floor. They drilled 22mm holes but not large enough to install insulation on the pipes. Will there be a marked heat loss here, the floor will be around 9 inches thick and how could you insulate this.  

does the regulator have any pull over these companies or am I dependent on the installers good will to put it right and stuffed if they decide to walk away. The insulation is fairly poor but what you can’t see I guess and they don’t expect you to go under the floor.  It’s certainly not cold under there. 

Posted by: @david999

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On the subject of pipe runs there are a great deal of radiators on the ground floor that are piped through the concrete slab floor. They drilled 22mm holes but not large enough to install insulation on the pipes. Will there be a marked heat loss here, the floor will be around 9 inches thick and how could you insulate this.  

does the regulator have any pull over these companies or am I dependent on the installers good will to put it right and stuffed if they decide to walk away. The insulation is fairly poor but what you can’t see I guess and they don’t expect you to go under the floor.  It’s certainly not cold under there.