after doing some googling on the pump (Salus MP200A), I read...
This pump is equipped with a control panel on the front for easy operation by users.
...which I guess might enable me to adjust flow speed. The problem being, the said control panel's face is hard against the floor and little/no chance of reading the display. I guess I'll have to live with the flow rate (17/18l/m (range 10-25)) but was hoping that a slower flow would help improve DT (currently at 2)
In the first place the pump should not have been mounted with the motor and electronics below the water filled pump section, unless the water in your system does not obey the Laws of Gravity. 🙃
Secondly your installer again should not have installed the pump in a position where the controls are inaccessible. 🙄
Please highlight who installed your system so that we can all avoid them in the future. 😠
HP only supplies central heating (10 rads) so this is possibly the only pump in the CH system. the pump has 8 modes to control the performance. with an angled mirror, it may be possible to see the display and so to cycle the modes to get a slower flow. I can't believe the pump was installed like this 🙄
@si-fillo I would say you definitely need access to the pump speeds. Is it just a single pump system you have? We have a primary flow pump which also does the DHW. We then have a second pump on the radiator loop Which is installed giving us hydraulic separation between the two.
you can slow the pump down but you need to know the configuration of the system first so you don’t cause any other problems.
If so try adjusting the pump speed to speed one then do an enquiry on the service screen scroll to Running Information then type in 540… this should give you the flow rate. When it’s adjusted to a slower flow rate within your models flow range you can then do a thermistor reading and see if it improves your DT you can keep refreshing to see how it changes.
@si-fillo if you find that the pump is already at the slowest pump speed you may be able to slow it further if you slowly adjust the isolation valves…. I turned them down a quarter of a turn at a time then refreshed the flow rate enquiry. Eventually settled on 12 or 13 LPM with a DT of between 5c and 8c depending on the flow temperature at a given time.
If I’m not mistaken, a DT of 4c will deliver exactly twice as much heat to your radiators as a DT of your current 2c and 8c will deliver 4 times the heat. So it’s worth investigating IMO.
Now, a possible saving grace: you have an ecodan so you might not need to figure out the curve for yourself. If the right switches are set in the unit (and they are by default), the "room temperature" mode is replaced by an "auto adapting" mode where the controller is supposed to learn for itself what temperature is needed given the current indoor and outdoor temperatures.
which also made me wonder if my system is configured from Room Temp or AA. I don't know if there is anyway of telling?
Room Temperature and Auto Adaptation are indeed the same animal. 😎
There are 3 heating modes • Heating room temp. (Auto adaptation) • Heating flow temp. • Heating compensation curve.
What happens if you run room temp mode with the Auto Adapt dip switch 5-2 set to inactive? I haven't tried it nor do I know if it's even possible.
I think that someone said that it launches nuclear missiles and starts, and ends, World War III, but don't quote me on that. 😋
which also made me wonder if my system is configured from Room Temp or AA. I don't know if there is anyway of telling?
Yes, but you probably ain't gonna like it:
1. Open the case and look.
2. Open Web Developer Tools in Firefox (or equivalent in other browsers), switch to the Network tab, log into melcloud, then find the ListDevices in the downloads, pick the Response body, filter it for Dip, then find whether DipSwitch5 is 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11... or some other number that means the second least significant digit in binary is 1. I don't remember seeing any public display for this in the melcloud app.
Room Temperature and Auto Adaptation are indeed the same animal. 😎
There are 3 heating modes • Heating room temp. (Auto adaptation) • Heating flow temp. • Heating compensation curve.
That's not my understanding. I believe AA replaces RT when available. I'm not sure how non-adaptive RT behaves because my system has never been in that mode and I'm not keen to open the case while still under warranty.
@sunandair looks like its a Salus MP200A. adjusting the pump speed via the FTC panel. when changing between 1 & 5 I hear nor feel any change from the pump (I presume this is the pump I am adjusting!)
I think my FTC panel only changes the outdoor unit's internal pump speed. My central heating circulation pump has its own independent control panel (with rather annoying-to-use blinkenlights, not even numbers) and I suspect the ecodan only turns it on and off, not any sort of speed control. From what I read on here, that's not unusual, but some heat pumps can do better and control the speed of other pumps too.
2. Open Web Developer Tools in Firefox (or equivalent in other browsers), switch to the Network tab, log into melcloud, then find the ListDevices in the downloads, pick the Response body,
Wow, this exposes a whole bunch of information. At a quick glance I'm not sure if there is anything listed that's not already exposed via the Melcloud app (suspect there is?) or equally how useful any 'new' data is. But thanks for sharing that.
I think my FTC panel only changes the outdoor unit's internal pump speed. My central heating circulation pump has its own independent control panel (with rather annoying-to-use blinkenlights, not even numbers) and I suspect the ecodan only turns it on and off, not any sort of speed control. From what I read on here, that's not unusual, but some heat pumps can do better and control the speed of other pumps too.
I'm going to ask a potentially really dumb question, but it's one I've been wanting to ask.
What does the (1-5) pump speed setting in the FTC controller actually do? The reason I ask is that my setup has two external circulation pumps that have manual speed controls, adjusting these will reflect in a changed flow rate as viewed via ref code 540. I had therefore assumed there was no pump inside the HP itself (indeed if there is one, what does it do?). Thanks
You can clearly hear on this video the speed of the pump increases as he increases/decreases the pump speed, lending to the idea it as an indoor pump rather than a pump in the HP unit outside.
You can clearly hear on this video the speed of the pump increases as he increases/decreases the pump speed, lending to the idea it as an indoor pump rather than a pump in the HP unit outside.
I think that this could be a training video, with the heat pump set up indoors, not too far from the controller.
One way to check if the outdoor unit has an internal water pump, would be to have one person inside changing the pump speed, whilst a second person is outside listening to the unit.
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