Have Consumers Been Lied to About the Efficiency of Heat Pumps Made in China? - Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs)

RE: Have Consumers Been Lied to About the Efficiency of Heat Pumps Made in China?

Mars — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 08:16:20 +0000

@pavel, this isn't about discrediting Chinese products... it’s about transparency, integrity in testing and protecting homeowners who make decisions based on claimed performance and government-backed certifications and funding.

While 30Hz may be a compressor’s minimum operational frequency, if the heat pump cannot modulate below this threshold, then its part-load performance will inevitably be affected. What’s problematic is not the 30Hz constraint itself, but the fact that this limitation is often not disclosed transparently, and yet these units still achieve high SCOP ratings based on part-load performance that isn’t realistically achievable in the real world. That misleads consumers.

These test irregularities (shorter test periods, data collection timed to avoid defrost cycles and non-compliance with EN standards) are not hypothetical. They are real, documented, and in some cases, verified by third-party European labs. They call into question the accuracy of performance claims and whether MCS-listed products genuinely meet the expectations set for them.

Suggesting that homeowners should be “pleased” with an inflated COP based on favourable test setups entirely misses the point. COP is only valuable if it reflects real-world performance, not a carefully staged lab scenario that doesn’t represent actual operation in UK homes.

Our article makes no sweeping generalisations about all Chinese products. It highlights verifiable concerns with specific models and the systemic issues that allow questionable data to pass into certification schemes like MCS. If any manufacturer (Chinese or otherwise) presents inflated or non-compliant data, it’s in everyone’s interest that it’s scrutinised.

RE: Have Consumers Been Lied to About the Efficiency of Heat Pumps Made in China?

Pavel — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 21:10:15 +0000

The actual impact on device functionality = zero. The author of this article is just trying to discredit Chinese products. If he had studied the compressor manufacturer's specifications (in this case, HIGHLY=HITACHI), he would know that 30Hz is the minimum frequency for stable operation. The attempt to achieve a linear heating output curve is completely misguided. The customer should, instead, be pleased that the COP is higher.

RE: Have Consumers Been Lied to About the Efficiency of Heat Pumps Made in China?

Old_Scientist — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 12:28:09 +0000

Would be nice to see some data for Midea units, as these are widely rebadged and used by a number of major 'manufacturers' I believe.

RE: Have Consumers Been Lied to About the Efficiency of Heat Pumps Made in China?

Tom — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 11:25:11 +0000

Whats the real world impact of the COP data being slightly elevated due to the compressor frequency unable to modulate below 30Hz though? I'm in Australia and the price of these european made units are at least twice and up to 3 times the cost of a China sourced unit. China produce 35% of the worlds heat pumps. Just like with PV cells, the rest of the world need to sharpen up their tech stack and IP to combat the superior tooling China have that allow for cheaper manufacturing processes. Cheaper manufacturing doesn't equal a poorer product or worse outcome for consumers. A poor installation, or even just an average installation, of a european manufactured unit will have a greater impact on performance and outcome for a customer than some high level statistical data of a Chinese manufacturered unit.

RE: Have Consumers Been Lied to About the Efficiency of Heat Pumps Made in China?

iancalderbank — Fri, 02 Feb 2024 15:52:25 +0000

I think whats more important than this, is to have the devices that do have perfectly reasonable databook performance figures , installed in such a way that they achieve those figures, monitored after the fact to make sure. rather than the constant flow that we see of badly designed/implemented setups that don't.

RE: Have Consumers Been Lied to About the Efficiency of Heat Pumps Made in China?

HughF — Fri, 02 Feb 2024 08:09:25 +0000

Answer: yes, probably lied to. Reality: probably doesn’t matter much unless you were borderline on capacity.

my made in china unit seems spot on. Not a whole lot of Chinese in it mind you, all the important stuff is from Carel, Italian …. Don’t know what’s worse 🤣

RE: Have Consumers Been Lied to About the Efficiency of Heat Pumps Made in China?

Derek M — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 12:59:59 +0000

When I see 'Made in China' on the label, I invariably look for an alternative.

RE: Have Consumers Been Lied to About the Efficiency of Heat Pumps Made in China?

AllyFish — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 11:52:03 +0000

How did you hear about this at the time?

Via contacts on LinkedIn. Yes, the same exposé ;)

RE: Have Consumers Been Lied to About the Efficiency of Heat Pumps Made in China?

Mars — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 11:34:59 +0000

@allyfish I completely missed your post from last summer – this coincides with the timelines when our contact that "leaked" the test reports to various authorities around Europe and the UK. How did you hear about this at the time?

RE: Have Consumers Been Lied to About the Efficiency of Heat Pumps Made in China?

Abernyte — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 11:32:53 +0000

Buy an Ecodan....made in Scotland, frae girders! 🙂 (/tongue in cheek)