Search with Wattson

Notifications

Clear all

Joining the Renewable Heating Hub forums is completely free and only takes a minute. By registering you’ll be able to ask questions, join discussions, follow topics you’re interested in, bookmark useful threads and receive notifications when someone replies. Non-registered members also do not have access to our AI features. When choosing your username, please note that it cannot be changed later, so we recommend avoiding brand or product names. Before registering, please take a moment to read the Forum Rules & Terms of Use so we can keep the community helpful, respectful and informative for everyone. Thanks for joining!

Brand and installer questions for ASHP

Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs)

Last Post by JamesPa 5 hours ago

7 Posts

4 Users

3 Reactions

62 Views

RSS

Lordstilton

(@lordstilton)

New Member Member

Joined: 1 day ago

Posts: 3

Topic starter 23/04/2026 12:11 pm [#2966]

Hi all

We are currently in the process of having ASHP installed and I'm finding myself getting a bit frustrated and would appreciate a sense check.

I'm using an umbrella scheme as my dad is a heating engineer with 30 years experience though not really had any involvement with ASHPs. I've completed my own heat loss which showed about 8.7 kw, umbrella scheme calculated 9.3kw. I've just completed the install of the rads which should work to a flow temp of 45c -3c, though I have upsized a few of them which should enable us to drop the flow a couple of degrees.

My installer (umbrella scheme) has recommended a specific brand (Panasonic) and their quote for supplying was £9.5k (just for the equipment). He has been fairly open from the start that we can order ourselves if we can find it cheaper (obviously this would be inclusive of VAT). The umbrella scheme also covers Daikin, Valliant & Mitsubishi.

I have enquired a couple of times about going for other brands but he's heavily pushing us to Panasonic. I've had a look yesterday and I can't see why we couldn't use the Mitsubishi Ecodan which have a 10kw unit and come with a preplumbed cylinder. All for about £7k. For the Pansonic I can get this for about £7,300, if I source it myself and obviously wouldn't be preplumbed. I've found as well that Pansonic really don't seem to be transparent with the equipment supplied as well as a lack of 3rd party integrations that have got me a bit concerned.

Is there anything I should be aware of that would favour one brand over the other? We are trying to be as cost effective as possible. The property had no central heating system so we have had to install everything from scratch, along with a never ending list of other things to sink money into. My dad feels as though we can't push back to much as at the end of the day he's got to sign everything off to get the grant.

Thank you in advance.

This topic was modified 1 day ago by Mars

Quote

JamesPa

(@jamespa)

Illustrious Member Moderator

Joined: 3 years ago

Posts: 4710

24/04/2026 9:23 am

Posted by: @lordstilton

↑

Mitsubishi Ecodan which have a 10kw unit and come with a preplumbed cylinder.

Avoid the pre-plumbed cylinder - it includes a low loss header which you dont want

Posted by: @lordstilton

↑

Is there anything I should be aware of that would favour one brand over the other? We are trying to be as cost effective as possible.

Installation/system design is more important than heat pump brand.

That said some have better (as in more flexible) controls. Samsung is one of the least flexible, Vaillant one of the more flexible. Dont know where Panasonic sits. You should avoid using any external controls (not even a thermostat) with the exception of those that integrate with the heat pump bus (currently Adia, Homely and Havenwise only so far as I know) .

If you are content to run on pure weather compensation, which is, for many, both the most efficient and the most comfortable, then any heat pump controler will do. If you want to do eg a night time setback (or set forward to take advantage of a night time ToU tarrif) then only some will do this without invoking the room thermostat and effectively becoming on/off. Vaillant is very good at this, again I dont know about Panasonic. If you want a controller that integrates with Octopus Agile you need one of Adia, Homely and Havenwise, any of which render the capability of the native controller is largely irrelevant.

4kW peak of solar PV since 2011; EV and a 1930s house which has been partially renovated to improve its efficiency. 7kW Vaillant heat pump.

👍

ReplyQuote

Mars

(@editor)

Illustrious Member Admin

Joined: 5 years ago

Posts: 4512

24/04/2026 10:32 am

@aventus-eco is the Panasonic heat pump guru. Sean, can you please provide some insight here.

Get a copy of The Ultimate Guide to Heat Pumps

Subscribe and follow our YouTube channel!

ReplyQuote

Aventus Eco

(@aventus-eco)

Active Member Member Professional Installer

Joined: 1 year ago

Posts: 6

24/04/2026 3:19 pm

@editor I like Panasonic and Vaillant , Panasonic are fantastic heat pumps and so is the manufacturer support , what model of Panasonic are they proposing ? I’m assuming a J-series ?

heartless is imperative to get correct and the amount of air changes per hour in each room can. Hugely affect the final results.

Panasonic you can run in full weather comp , you can also use the controller as a room thermostat , we don’t use that feature much. The Panasonic comfort cloud app you can set timers on the heating an the heat curve on different times and heat curve settings inline with the cosy tariff , it messes with efficiency but it takes advantages of cheap rates . You want to over heat the house on cheap slots.

as for price his profit is in there with prices so what you can buy it for is irrelevant. No one is just charging labour as you can’t run a business and just covering wages alone.

My concern is you don’t feel comfortable with the installer or the umbrella scheme. I would take a breath and go and find a local installer you do like and can show you all their previous work. Not something to be rushed.

👍

ReplyQuote

Lordstilton

(@lordstilton)

New Member Member

Joined: 1 day ago

Posts: 3

Topic starter 24/04/2026 3:29 pm

@jamespa Thanks James

The point on the low loss header was something I hadn't been aware of.

I have looked at the 3rd party integrations and I can't see these are supported through Panasonic. A bit disappointing if this is the case. I appreciate I might not use it but I do enjoy the gadgets and ability to integrate with our batteries/solar.

ReplyQuote

Lordstilton

(@lordstilton)

New Member Member

Joined: 1 day ago

Posts: 3

Topic starter 24/04/2026 3:50 pm

@aventus-eco Hi Sean. Thanks for your response and detailed breakdown on the Panasonic. It's the M series being recommended. I do like the model and from what I can tell most people seem very happy with it.

I've maybe not described our situation accurately over text form but we are using the umbrella scheme as we are doing all the work ourselves including the install. The umbrella scheme is there to make sure it's installed in line with the MSC requirements and therefore grant eligible. There's not any labour for them as they are just supplying the kit and they have said if we can source the parts ourselves cheaper they are happy for us to do so. I appreciate they have their mark up on it though if we obtained all the parts from them. We pay a fee separately for the use of the umbrella scheme.

I suppose my concern more centred on the drawbacks of Panasonic and whether alternatives in our heat loss range was something we should be considering more. As I say the umbrella scheme is very enthusiastic about Panasonic with ease of install, quality of the kits and remote support.

ReplyQuote

JamesPa

(@jamespa)

Illustrious Member Moderator

Joined: 3 years ago

Posts: 4710

24/04/2026 4:05 pm

Posted by: @lordstilton

↑

I have looked at the 3rd party integrations and I can't see these are supported through Panasonic. A bit disappointing if this is the case. I appreciate I might not use it but I do enjoy the gadgets and ability to integrate with our batteries/solar.

Strange, perhaps it doesnt use modbus which the third parties tend to focus on initially and, unlike Vaillant (which also doesnt use modbus) is perhaps not a 'top seller' in the UK.

If you like tinkering you could of course, try to do something with Home Assistant or another framework, or even just python etc, assuming of course you can get access to the bus, which I imagine you can somehow. Then you can play to your heart's content. I use HA to monitor my Vaillant, but not to control, the inbuilt controller does all I need and more beside.

Tado claim to do a 'heat pump optimiser' which works with Panasonic, but when I spoke with their rep at installer show last June in order to try to establish whether it actually controlled flow temp or not (which is the key question), I got a load of BS. So headed over to the Panasonic stand and the rep there, who was less full of BS, told that it didn't. I was more inclined to believe them given the BS I got from Tado, but I could still be wrong on this.

4kW peak of solar PV since 2011; EV and a 1930s house which has been partially renovated to improve its efficiency. 7kW Vaillant heat pump.

ReplyQuote