Who did the Freedom Heat Pump cloud server and what did it do? I've not really heard of it, so who's affected? 

@editor — it was a not very well implemented so far as I could see (it was aimed mainly at installers) typical cloud based snooping system. I never managed to get past demo screens. 

Perhaps more important is the fact Freedom Heat Pumps has hit the fan/buffers (probably the latter). This was Graham Hendra's outfit before he moved on to pastures new, and it seems the company may have tried to over-expand, but then ended up failing after Certas took it on. This may matter because for a while, Freedom Heat Pumps were, for all practical purposes, Midea UK.

From what I can gather, Freedom has not gone into administration, but the business is being wound down and is no longer taking on new work. My understanding is that Freedom was doing more than simply distributing equipment, particularly around Midea support, so the bigger concern may be what happens to existing owners when the distributor, its technical knowledge and its monitoring platform all disappear at roughly the same time.

It does look as though Midea has its own UK support and warranty structure, so owners are not necessarily left without any route back to the manufacturer. Even so, I would want to know whether historic FHP Cloud data can be recovered, whether the existing monitoring hardware can be reused and exactly what is involved in moving over to Planet Devices.

Planet Devices appears to offer live monitoring, historical data and some remote-control functionality, but I’m not clear whether every existing FHP Cloud installation can move across without additional hardware or cost.

I’ll ask Planet Devices to clarify here.

For me, this is another example of the risk with cloud-dependent heating platforms. The heat pump itself may continue working perfectly well, but useful controls and years of performance data can still disappear because the company operating the service changes direction.

I think Aira systems are similar with app control only! Scary prospect if that’s true.

Posted by: @editor

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From what I can gather, Freedom has not gone into administration,

That is my understanding too, and the accounts up to 31 March 2026 which have just appeared on the Companies House website appear to corroborate this. In those accounts, the company made a loss of £741,863, but the balance sheet says it can meet its liabilities, mainly from reserves. What happens next is not clear. Certas, a fossil fuel supplier who now own and control the Freedom Heat Pump business/brand, have said they will manage the 'phased closure' in an 'orderly and responsible manner', whatever that means.  

You are also right about FHP being more than a wholesaler for Midea. They trained installers, produced Freedom branded Midea installation guides both printed and video and, I think I am right in saying, though it has always been rather unclear, they administer and may even be responsible for the warranty scheme eg I have to have my annual service logged with them to keep my warranty afloat. Freedom were also the reason why most Midea installations have hydraulic separation (plate heat exchanger etc), most of the time they made them mandatory (no hydraulic separation, no warranty).

As I said before, I think their cloud thingy was only for installers, the heat pump owner had no access to it or any data it may or may not have had. I think it came into being as the company started to decline, so maybe it never really took off. I am also not sure whether it piggy-backed on the Midea wifi cloud thingy (which has always been truly awful) or made use of the wired modbus connection that I use to collect my data. All in all, while it may have been a thingy, I am not sure it ever became a thing. To that extent Midea heat pump owners have probably only lost something they never had in the first place. The heat pumps themselves do not need any external (cloud) connection , they can run on the local hardware and software installed with the unit. 

It will be very interesting to hear what Planet Devices have to say about any future access to data. I think it would also be very useful to find out how many (number and percentage) installed Midea pumps are connected to the ex-Freedom cloud thingy - I suspect not very many.

The other thing that needs to be clarified is who now provides the warranty in the event of a claim. Midea/Freedom sold themselves on the back of a 10 year warranty (mine still has over five years left), and as the units age in use, claims are likely to increase in number.    

Posted by: @editor

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For me, this is another example of the risk with cloud-dependent heating platforms. The heat pump itself may continue working perfectly well, but useful controls and years of performance data can still disappear because the company operating the service changes direction.

I think Aira systems are similar with app control only! Scary prospect if that’s true.

I couldn't agree more, but I'd go further. From the information provided on the forum, I'd say Aira are a slightly different proposition, @editor.

Every other manufacturer we can see encourages customers to use their app and therefore cloud solution, but it is only Aira we've had postings about suggesting the addition of third party monitoring equipment let alone controls will potentially void the warranty. That's not encouragement; that's force.

Given what we've seen of GivEnergy, I'd say this example is not just highlighting the risks of cloud dependency in heating systems and I cannot see any good reason for accepting any tech that does not have a method of manufacturer-independent control. I've even seen Volkswagen restrict access to their API (apparently contrary to EU law) in what seems to be an attempt to monetise owners' smart access to their own cars.

Using a manufacturer's cloud solution for convenience is fine. Using it for activities you rely on is a gamble.

Posted by: @editor

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It does look as though Midea has its own UK support and warranty structure, so owners are not necessarily left without any route back to the manufacturer.

I am not sure about this. It has always been somewhat opaque, possibly just some sort of shell company with an answerphone in a broom cupboard somewhere. The underlying company appears to be MIDEA HOME APPLIANCES UK LTD and it's Companies House record suggests it has just in the last few days narrowly escaped being struck off:

28 Jul 2026 First Gazette notice for compulsory strike-off

29 Jul 2026 Compulsory strike-off action has been discontinued

The most recent accounts (to 31 Dec 2024, so much may have changed) say the company had on average (including directors) 10 employees in 2023, rising to 17 in 2024. 

Edit: or the company may be FG EUROPE UK LIMITED. This appears to be a Greek concern, headquarted in Mayfair, London. The most recent accounts, again to 31 Dec 2024, suggest around 24 employees.

This is what I mean about the opacity...  

The fundamental problem with cloud services is when you can't switch freely. Even worse when the service is free and bundled with the product.

A free service is paid for by growing the market, when you stop growing the market that free service stops being advertising and product value and becomes overhead. The moment it becomes overhead the accountants job is to reduce it as far as possible without anyone getting sued. Same happens with things like "lifetime price guarantee" which is how I've ended up being in a dispute with Zen Internet now my "lifetime price guarantee" is looking rather better than they apparently hoped.

When you can't switch freely you are basically renting a service and you are trapped with whatever price, features, choices are made by the operator of the service, whose ultimate job is generally to make cash for their usually foreign shareholders. Thus tied services get worse every year and the price keeps soaring. Management companies, gym memberships as part of flats, all the rest of it follow that as a well understood economic problem.

The ones that do work are the paid services where you can switch. The Sunsynk inverters as an example have their own rather naff standard cloud service, they have a paid "AI" cloud service and there are third party services all available for the same inverter. Some of the paid services are really rather good - because if they were not then they would have no customers.

Essentially the business model is broken. Equipment like heatpumps neeed to come with a standard documented open API so people can buy (or not) services or products that manage them. Right now it's a mess and thus we have stuff like the "faikin" units to work around vendor "features".

The economics of all of this is very well understood, except it seems by politicians who think their Oxford PPE qualifies them to ignore actual economists.

OK so this is what i know. freedom have stopped trading, no idea why, I've been out of there for 5 years. 

But FHP cloud was designed to be a tech support tool to help engineers. but it was crap because it was free so it was never supported properly. 

They didn't charge for it or develop it, it covered 700 units. Planet devices tried to take it over from freedom but it never went anywhere. 

so it died.

As a home owner you wont notice any difference the units will plod on. its just now no one can look at your unit remotely any more. 

planet devices do all the monitoring and after care, but you have to pay.

hope this helps 

Posted by: @grahamh-energy-donkey

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As a home owner you wont notice any difference the units will plod on. its just now no one can look at your unit remotely any more. 

That assumes that they disabled things on the unit end so they are not trying to talk to bits of internet, addresses and names that may be reassigned and someone can buy in order to exploit them.

Probably not an interesting target but if a device was internet connected and is no longer supported and thus receiving security fixes always get it off your wifi.

Local security holes don't really matter so much, if someone can locally exploit your controller then presumably they are in your house and can also just walk out with the TV 8)

@grahamh-energy-donkey — thanks for the clarifications.

I think FHP (as now controlled by Certas, a fossil fuel company, and read into that whatever you will, could be 'diversification', or alternatively, keep your friends close but you enemies even closer) has had plummeting profits for the last few years (ever since you left?), Companies House P&L accounts show losses of £352k to year end 31 Mar 2025, £741k to year end 31 Mar 2026, clearly not going in the right direction so they shut it down while they could. Probably the biggest concern for Midea heat pump owners is who will now deal with warranty claims if and when they arise.

I think the Planet Devices thingy is just a rather expensive modbus RS-485 to WiFi adaptor that then uses WiFi to connect to their server. It is aimed at installers and engineers but it seems they are happy to let owners use it. But it is still cloud based, and so you will always be at the mercy of whatever happens to the company that runs the cloud service. 

if you have a midea the warranty will be with Midea i guess, 

as far as what certas were planning, i dont know and dont care, i took the dosh and ran. Turns out my timing wasnt bad. 

ref the planet devices comment, you need to look at what it actually does, there will be a lot more info shortly and i do not want to spoil the surprise, pre launch 7th september