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Getting the best out of a heat pump - is Homely a possible answer?

cathodeRay · 2023-01-03T10:37:51Z

Homely, currently only available for Samsung and Midea heat pumps, claims to be a 'smart' control system for these heat pumps, smart insofar as it can tune the weather compensation to suit varying conditions, thus solving the basic weather compensation curve's Achilles' heel of being a 'dumb' curve. Apparently it uses modbus and RS485 to interact with the heat pump, which makes sense, the Midea unit has these. No doubt Homely have plans to make it applicable to other brands in due course. Has anyone had any real world experience with Homely? If so (a) does it work as in achieve more effective (rooms more reliably at desired temps) and efficient (lowest possible COP at all times) control and (b) what if any monitoring does it do (and if it does monitor, can the data be downloaded, or is it a pencil and paper job, as it is with that blasted Midea app)? Lastly, how does it compare to the various open source home automation projects like Home Assistant and domoticz? Clearly it is proprietary, and it only manages an ASHP, but does it do that better or worse than the open source projects. The latter, so far as I can tell are still at the 'enthusiasts' stage, fiendishly complicated to set up, and more often than not definitely do not work 'out of the box'.

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Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs)

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Toodles

(@toodles)

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Joined: 4 years ago

Posts: 2694

11/05/2025 8:54 am

@majordennisbloodnok I’m not @transparent ! (Boom-Boom)

Toodles, heats his home with cold draughts and cooks food with magnets.

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Toodles

(@toodles)

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11/05/2025 9:33 am

@majordennisbloodnok I’m NOT @transparent !

Toodles, heats his home with cold draughts and cooks food with magnets.

😂

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Arundalep

(@arundalep)

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Joined: 2 years ago

Posts: 26

11/05/2025 12:45 pm

@benson Having access to the dashboard doesn't allow changing of the max or min flow temperatures AFAIK, only their own tech team can alter those within Homely. A workaround for some systems (certainly Samsung) is to alter the min and max water temperature limits for the controller (FSV 1031 /1041 & 1032/1042). This stops the heat pump from accepting flow temperature requests outside of this range.

1970’s 3 bed detached house in West Sussex. Mains gas disconnected September 2023.
Samsung HTQ 8kW heat pump using mostly existing radiators. House is warm 24/7 (normally between 20.3-20.6 C but currently with a newborn its 21-21.2 C).
Sunamp for hot water storage.
Solaredge 6kWp PV and 10kWh battery
Vehicle 2 Grid charger (used with a Leaf)
Wallbox EV charger (installed for Octopus Intelligent).
Home Assistant used for HEMS with lots of custom ESP devices to allow integration.

Insulation upgrades:
EPS cavity wall insulation.
Improved loft insulation (renewed and 300mm where possible).

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benson

(@benson)

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11/05/2025 1:08 pm

@arundalep that is correct. The dashboard just shows the data and you have to contact their tech team to change them.

Our installers told us that homely automatically sets the max and min flow temps but I don't believe that is correct and they set them when they initially commissioned within the installer app (there's no way to retrospectively change them in the installer app either from what I can see).

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Toodles

(@toodles)

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11/05/2025 1:13 pm

@benson Homely told me that the max/min settings were initially set up by my installers and they had to check with them before they would make any changes. (Ours is a Daikin) Toodles.

Toodles, heats his home with cold draughts and cooks food with magnets.

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benson

(@benson)

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11/05/2025 1:39 pm

Yes that sounds about right. My installers provided the above account when I asked them why it was set at 50 when design temp was 45…and as with many things when challenged they didn’t provide an honest response.

Hence why I just don’t want to be reliant on my installers for any aspect of my central heating system.

This post was modified 11 months ago by benson

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Arundalep

(@arundalep)

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11/05/2025 2:00 pm

@benson @toodles During the initial commissioning there are options for these. Once they are set you need to contact support to change them. The Samsung FSV hack is useful if you need to limit the low end limit to say 36-37C if you are running radiators during the shoulder months (ie rad output is below minimum heat pump output). I used the FSV settings to limit Homely until I found good values and then got Homely to apply these to their setup.

I really like Homely and on the whole it works great but I did struggle with the lack of user (and Installer) adjustability. For me I had to remove it because it overrides all of the heat pumps own controls and they offer no method of external control other than the app (which I think is poor in this day and age). But if you aren't bothered about integrating Octopus Intelligent unscheduled cheap slots (which I am) it is generally a good solution, as is Havenwise.

Insulation upgrades:
EPS cavity wall insulation.
Improved loft insulation (renewed and 300mm where possible).

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Arundalep

(@arundalep)

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Joined: 2 years ago

Posts: 26

11/05/2025 2:02 pm

@benson The Homely installation guidance is to set it above the design temperature to allow it to work harder (ie above design) if the conditions demand it (cheap / cold etc).

Insulation upgrades:
EPS cavity wall insulation.
Improved loft insulation (renewed and 300mm where possible).

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benson

(@benson)

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11/05/2025 2:41 pm

@arundalep yes I have no issue with this. The observation I made was that it was regularly going up to 50 when not at peak heating demand. This is why I queried it rather than insisting it was set precisely on the limit. Some aspects of the install have now been sorted with an additional radiator upgrade and a more realistic design temp of 47 being disclosed on the final paperwork (and some financial compensation). Currently it is set up with a max flow temp of 50.

I agree it is good. I just don't want to be reliant on my installers for anything going forward and this I think is a flaw in the operating system.

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MarcT

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19/05/2025 9:56 am

Posted by: @toodles

↑

N.B. If you wish to know how to gain access to these ‘Installer only’ apps, please DM me😉 Regards, Toodles.

I'd love to know, but but can't yet send DMs! 😥

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Anonymous 5011

(@Anonymous 5011)

Joined: 3 years ago

Posts: 562

19/05/2025 12:34 pm

Isn't the easiest way to do all this, register as an installer, get the installer software. Recommissioning the unit with you ars the installer and then you have full control without third party involvement.

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benson

(@benson)

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Posts: 300

19/05/2025 9:06 pm

@johnmo yes. This is effectively what some of us are doing to access the dashboard. You don't have to recommission it, but then again this would presumably remove previous installer access as you say. They do define 'installer' in their Ts and Cs so whether they'd bring in any more checks before allowing creation of an installer account in the future...who knows.

Interestingly they do also include in their T and Cs that the end user can remove consent for third party access, so presumably if a customer emails them, they'd remove it.

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