@potatoman Hello @potatoman

, I lower the temperature at night for comfort and also employ the ‘Cool Night Mode’ on the app. Homely looks after the secondary pump so it only runs during times of the warm water needing to be circulated. The pump is a Wilo Pico and runs very quietly so we don’t even know when it switches on or off. (Homely does of course😉) Regards, Toodles.

@toodles Hi, thanks for reply, am i right in saying that your homely was a retrofit and if so what controled the heat pump before the homely was installed, mine has a wiser controller with smart sats, will these be discarded when the homely is installed, also did you fit it your self or did you get an installer to fit it.

@potatoman My previous control was achieved by setting the original NeoAir kit thermostat a few degrees above required temperature and just using WC and carefully tailoring the curves to achieve the required temperature from day to day. This system was fairly good bot required intervention and some tweaking most days as external conditions changed and the heat pump didn’t respond quite well enough to be regarded as reliable. The deviations in temperature were most noticeable in milder weather where sometimes, the pump would just sit there and not heat the house for hours though the internal temperature had dropped below comfort levels.

You would not need your present wiser kit as far as I am aware; the retrofitted kit installed by my heat pump installers connects to the P1 / P2 in the (in my case anyway) Daikin MMI console and there is a D-Comm unit alongside the Homely controller which does all the communications and control. Both the Homely and the D-Comm devices need a PSU that plug into 13 amp sockets so you need two sockets available for powering the system.

The ‘Node’ as they call it should be placed in a room you use the most such as a sitting room or lounge and this senses the temperature - but it is NOT a thermostat! The data is sent from the node for Homely to decide what the heat pump should do. It takes into account, time, tariff you are on, external temperature and likely changes over the next few hours and more. Likely solar gain is also factored in. The Homely allows for your preference for temperature variations and if you allow for several degrees of deviation, it will use that elasticity to heat the house to slightly higher settings if the tariff is cheaper for the next few hours and if there is a cold spell coming, Homely will anticipate that too and build up heat in readiness so coldness should never be a problem.

I have found that the temperature of 22.5 degrees C that we require is always met and the maximum rise we normally see in a day (possibly due to solar gain) is 0.6 degrees. Homely aim for a maximum deviation from required temperature of 0.5 degrees and I have never seen it drop below our required temperature. One morning when it was minus 7, I noticed the sitting room was a degree down until about 09:30 but that is the only time I have experienced such a deviation.

Regards, Toodles.

@toodles Hi, thank you for a comprehensive reply, could you tell me what a D-Com unit is and how is it connected,  is it supplied with the Homely.

@potatoman Hello potatoman, the D.Comm unit is the Modbus adapter and it is supplied with the Homely smart controller. The unit carries out all the communications functions and has P1/P2 connections to the heat pump via the Homely and has several relays within the unit which has a series of connectors on 2 sides of it plus a number of dip switches - the Homely manual provides all the connection and setting details. I left all this work to the trained installer to carry out - it just gets on with learning your system and then starts to tweak and refine the heat pump’s performance. Mine was closely monitored remotely by EverGreen Homely as it was (I think) the first to be installed in this model of Daikin and they took a great deal of interest in the performance and enabled them to further refine the control firmware and the app. Regards, Toodles.

@toodles Hi, thank you for your reply, I have rung up homely technical support today to talk about removing my wiser controls, these wiser controls control a two port valve on my hot water tank,a secondary circulating pump and powers up the heat pump when called for. Technical support tell me that a homely  will not support any external wireing circutis for these devices so i will not be able to fit a homely, which I find a bit strange.

@potatoman That is a great shame🤨 My system has the secondary pump and this is controlled by Homely - how the powering is done, I am uncertain. Homely had to do some extra work on the controller so that it would control my Wilo Pico secondary pump as in the early development state, they couldn’t handle the external pump - I had to wait a while for them to incorporate external pump control before I could use the Homely kit. Homely were well aware of my wiring layout and they informed me that there would be a delay whilst they worked on secondary pump control for me. Once that design work was complete, the kit was sent to my installer and all was well. Regards, Toodles.

@mikeavison Hi, could you tell me a little about your setup of your Homely/ASHP, was the Homely a retro fit, what type of heat pump was it fitted on, etc

@potatoman , hi. It was a turnkey job. Evergreen energy fitted it along with a Midea heat pump. I'm very happy with both.

@mikeavison Hi, thanks for your reply, could you tell me was a new water cylinder fitted when the ASHP was installed and if so do you know what name and modle number it was, also do you have a secondary circulating pump on your system.

@potatoman This does seem a little strange to me as as I have stated, I have a secondary pump and Homely controls this fully. When previously I used a NeoAir thermostat (Yes, I know, they are not a good plan for an ASHP), I had the thermostat set several degrees higher then required temperature - this meant the secondary pump ran all the time.

Now Homely controls the whole heating system, the secondary pump is controlled by Homely and only starts up when circulation of hot water is required. I imagine there is a supply coming from the Daikin pump to power the secondary pump though. I don’t have a need for DHW control or any two way valves as this service is provided by a totally separate Sunamp Thermino ePV210 unit. I know the homely has control facilities for DHW if supplied from the heat pump and I imagine this must involve controlling a valve such as yours - but as I don’t have this facility, I am unsure how or what Homely does to achieve it.

For these reasons I am a little surprised at the response from Homely Tech., perhaps it might be worth clarifying with them again. You can mention that I have a secondary pump (Wilo Pico) working with my Homely. You may mention that this was all set up last autumn with help from Paul Williams (no longer working there I’m afraid) and and installed by Cinergi of Southampton.

Regards, Toodles

@potatoman hi, yes I have a new cylinder, it is a 250 litre stainless Telford. I don't think I have a secondary pump , I don't know what they do, but I'm sure there is only one pump.