Our NIBE which is 13 years old seems to be very unreliable at the moment. We have been informed that due to our coastal location (west coast of Scotland) then the pump will be the issue. We are 'happy' to upgrade the pump but want to make sure we make the right decision.
The installer has informed us that NIBE is difficult to get hold of now so they suggest replacing with a Mitsubishi Ecodan 11.2 with coastal protection.
As the replacement with installation will be roughly 10K we want to make sure we are making the right choice.
If anyone can help with our questions we would be very grateful.
1) The current NIBE F2016 11 is very quiet, and we would really not want anything that was more noisy.
2) We do think due to its age that the NIBE is maybe not as efficient as it could be, but I am unsure as to the efficiency of the Ecodan.
3) Our house is heated by UFH throughout, approx 250sqm and as house is 13 years old its pretty well insulated.
4) The original install (not by us) had just one thermostat in the main living room, which meant the rest of the house was determined by the temp there. We have had heatmiser thermostats installed in all rooms, at least it can help reduce heat in bedrooms, but we are not able to do the opposite (I like a warm bathroom, but can only have that if living room is also needing heat) Our living room has loads of south facing glass so gets warm on sunny days, which is not necessarily the case for north facing rooms. So my question is it possible that the pump is responding to multiple thermostats?
5) I have nearly given up understanding the NIBE controls, I would like to understand and control when we are heating the water, currently we have it constantly heated, nice but most likely costly 😊
6) We had solar panels installed this winter with a LuxPower inverter and currently 6 but increasing to 8 batteries. So it would be useful for us to be more in control as to when we are heating water.
7) Will we with the Mitsubishi be able to control from our iPhone, the NIBE control is so confusing.
I appreciate any advice and help so that we can make an informed decision.
Our NIBE which is 13 years old seems to be very unreliable at the moment. We have been informed that due to our coastal location (west coast of Scotland) then the pump will be the issue. We are 'happy' to upgrade the pump but want to make sure we make the right decision.
The installer has informed us that NIBE is difficult to get hold of now so they suggest replacing with a Mitsubishi Ecodan 11.2 with coastal protection.
As the replacement with installation will be roughly 10K we want to make sure we are making the right choice.
If anyone can help with our questions we would be very grateful.
1) The current NIBE F2016 11 is very quiet, and we would really not want anything that was more noisy.
We have an 14kW Ecodan. It's not noisy. You can google the noise figures but a new ASHP is unlikely to be noisier than a 13 year old one
2) We do think due to its age that the NIBE is maybe not as efficient as it could be, but I am unsure as to the efficiency of the Ecodan.
efficiency is more to do with design and how you use it rather than which ASHP. A new Ecodan is likely to be more efficient than a 13 year old Nibe. We are getting a SCOP of about 3.5 from radiators so you should be able to match or better that with ufh, depending on design.
3) Our house is heated by UFH throughout, approx 250sqm and as house is 13 years old its pretty well insulated.
Ours is 160 sqm and radiators, 1990 built.
4) The original install (not by us) had just one thermostat in the main living room, which meant the rest of the house was determined by the temp there. We have had heatmiser thermostats installed in all rooms, at least it can help reduce heat in bedrooms, but we are not able to do the opposite (I like a warm bathroom, but can only have that if living room is also needing heat) Our living room has loads of south facing glass so gets warm on sunny days, which is not necessarily the case for north facing rooms. So my question is it possible that the pump is responding to multiple thermostats?
Having the bathroom hotter than the living room is difficult. You can mess around with zones but that might be more trouble than it's worth. Some people have additional electric heaters. Or you could oversize the bathroom radiator. We don't bother.
How the heat pump responds to your thermostats depends on a lot of things. I'm afraid I know next to nothing about how ufh is set up.
5) I have nearly given up understanding the NIBE controls, I would like to understand and control when we are heating the water, currently we have it constantly heated, nice but most likely costly 😊
It's probably more expensive to heat HW constantlyand not really necessary. It's easy to control HW timing with the Ecodan controls.
6) We had solar panels installed this winter with a LuxPower inverter and currently 6 but increasing to 8 batteries. So it would be useful for us to be more in control as to when we are heating water.
7) Will we with the Mitsubishi be able to control from our iPhone, the NIBE control is so confusing.
If you have the Mitsubishi wireless controller you can control some of the heating remotely. I don't but I think @morgan who is on here has so maybe he can advise.
I appreciate any advice and help so that we can make an informed decision.
Sorry about the messy formatting. I would describe the Ecodan as a safe choice; it's not the newest or shiniest ASHP out there but there are lots around and plenty people around who know them.
One comment; what are you getting for your £10k quote? An 11.2kW Ecodan costs around £6k.
Thank you very much. The quote is £4800 for the pump the rest is install and other bits and pieces. As we live remote we are used to pay more for work getting done. Hopefully we should qualify for 40 percent grant from Scottish government.
We have looked into getting a isolar boost to use excess energy from solar panels to heat water.
I have the Ecodan 11.2 and I’m very pleased with it. It is whisper quiet and is efficient enough for me.
I cannot comment on controlling UFH or individual room temps. My system is all to radiators. I have insisted on the stat being changed from heatmiser to totally Mitsubishi controls. I then have the option of running the system on weather compensation. The Mitsubishi wireless controller also allows the option of remote control. Useful if you’re away from home and wish to turn DHW and/or CH on/off or change temps up/down to suit.
I don’t believe you’ll be disappointed with the Ecodan, it’s a solid well tried and tested system. I’ve no idea what ‘coastal protection’ is, not heard of it.
Retrofitted 11.2kw Mitsubishi Ecodan to new radiators commissioned November 2021.
@henriette, I'm not an Ecodan owner either, but I've never heard a bad report about an Ecodan, which speaks to the reliability of the product. I'll caveat that point by highlighting that these systems have been correctly designed and installed.
The £10,000 price tag is quite high in my opinion given that it's a like-for-like replacement with the bulk of the piping, plumbing and electricity in place already.
We have an Ecodan 11.2 and also very pleased with it. It is generally very quiet, except for when it's working hard to heat hot water at low ambient temperatures, but even then I wouldn't describe it as noisy!
Our house is 230sqm, 3 storeys, with UFH on the ground floor and radiators on the top two floors. We have 3 zones for our UFH, and another stat for the radiators, but we turn the thermostats up for all of the zones and then use weather compensation to control the temperature of the house. This works pretty well and kept the house at a reasonably constant temperature over last winter. Over the summer we turn all the stats right down.
We have our hot water set to 45C, with the ASHP programmed to start heating when the tank drops 10C. We also have solar and use an iBoost to divert excess power to the immersion heaters. Since late May the ASHP has barely been on, as we haven't needed the heating and the iBoost generally provides all our hot water needs, even on overcast days (unless my wife decides to have a bath!).
We have the Mitsubishi Wireless Controller, but I only really use it for monitoring the system and not for controlling it. It can be used to set zone temperatures and boost hot water, but the way we have our system set up we don't use those functions.
All in all we're very happy with our 9 months of ownership so far - there were a few teething problems, but they were due to the crappy install rather than the unit itself which has been faultless (fingers crossed).
Our NIBE which is 13 years old seems to be very unreliable at the moment. We have been informed that due to our coastal location (west coast of Scotland) then the pump will be the issue. We are 'happy' to upgrade the pump but want to make sure we make the right decision.
The installer has informed us that NIBE is difficult to get hold of now so they suggest replacing with a Mitsubishi Ecodan 11.2 with coastal protection.
As the replacement with installation will be roughly 10K we want to make sure we are making the right choice.
If anyone can help with our questions we would be very grateful.
1) The current NIBE F2016 11 is very quiet, and we would really not want anything that was more noisy.
We have an Nibe F2040 8kW. Echo comments that all newer systems are likely to be quieter.
What are they replacing as part of the £10k, controls, hot water tank, outside unit. etc?
2) We do think due to its age that the NIBE is maybe not as efficient as it could be, but I am unsure as to the efficiency of the Ecodan.
Installer manual for Nibe F2016 11kW and F2040 12kW
System Outside Temp. Supply Temp. COP
F2040 7 35 4.65
F2016 7 35 4.19
Someone else can find the COP for the Ecodan as it wasn't too easy to find. Suspect if it is R32 then it will be slightly more efficient than the F2040
Worth reading the threads on Buildhub about standby energy consumption on certain Ecodan units. Haven't checked recently, but some people have seen 200w standby! (4.8kWh per day!)
It could perhaps be cheaper to replace with another Nibe as the controls may not need upgrading and its likely to be more 'plug and play' than a new system.
3) Our house is heated by UFH throughout, approx 250sqm and as house is 13 years old its pretty well insulated.
4) The original install (not by us) had just one thermostat in the main living room, which meant the rest of the house was determined by the temp there. We have had heatmiser thermostats installed in all rooms, at least it can help reduce heat in bedrooms, but we are not able to do the opposite (I like a warm bathroom, but can only have that if living room is also needing heat) Our living room has loads of south facing glass so gets warm on sunny days, which is not necessarily the case for north facing rooms. So my question is it possible that the pump is responding to multiple thermostats?
Agree this isn't an easy fix and if only bathroom was calling for heat then you could have potential short cycling issues with the HP. Could you add electric underfloor heating to the bathroom?
5) I have nearly given up understanding the NIBE controls, I would like to understand and control when we are heating the water, currently we have it constantly heated, nice but most likely costly 😊
What controller do you have with your current Nibe?
We have the SMO 020 and the relevant app on the phone.
User Interface is often subjective. The basic controls on the current controller are very straightforward. I have a schedule setup which comes on at 3:45 and heats the hot water to 'luxury' temp which is set at 55C. It will cut out when 55C is reached or by 7:00, whichever comes first. It then reverts to Economy for the remainder of the day which re-heats the water if it falls below 42C up to 45C.
It also shouldn't necessarily be more costly if you have a well insulated tank and aren't on an E7 tariff to heat your water.
6) We had solar panels installed this winter with a LuxPower inverter and currently 6 but increasing to 8 batteries. So it would be useful for us to be more in control as to when we are heating water.
7) Will we with the Mitsubishi be able to control from our iPhone, the NIBE control is so confusing.
I think there are connections with the SMO 20 controller to control it based on Solar, but I'm not sure which systems can utilise this.
I appreciate any advice and help so that we can make an informed decision.
As I have only recently got a Nibe it would be interesting to know what has been going wrong with your system 13 years on! It is a shame that it has become unreliable after 13 years as I would hope they last much longer.
Do you know what the 'coastal protection' is? I have read somewhere that it is just something that is sprayed onto the unit?
Can the unit be located in a more weather protected area around the house, or is it already in the optimum position?
