Homely heat pump controller/compatible heat pumps

cognis0 · 2024-04-16T07:24:35.363Z

I’m still at the stage of selecting a heat pump, although using heat pump monitoring is certainly something I would like to do…

I am just about sold on the Homely heat pump controller, which seems to be game changing technology but which only works with certain Modbus compatible heat pumps. Having seen @glyn.hudson excellent video on installing his Samsung unit (great tube bending Glyn!), perhaps Samsung would be a good choice? (and their new Gen 7 R290 looks attractive).

Does anyone have experience of Homely and heat pumps to use with it?

Your comments welcome on Homely, Samsung, or other makes compatible with Homely…

KnightPhoenix · 2024-04-16T18:35:07.575Z

Unless you are planning to do a full self install personally the bigger concern is finding the right engineer/company to undertake an accurate heat loss survey and install the unit.

Yes monitoring and having Homely with the smart A.I. is a nice to have but you would be far better placed to get the whole system designed to suit your house and ensure it it not over / undersized (which is far too common with big and small installers). This can be seen from the new data (Heat Demand) available in heatpumpmonitor.org for certain systems (such as mine in Farnborough, Hampshire)

Personally I think you may be looking at this backwards, find an installer who is great (either a heat geek elite or if you are up north just look for Paul Spence if he is still installing), then ask them for recommendations on the best pump for your property and explain you would like to use Homely.

Each installer will have their preferred manufacturers and reasons for this so unless it is a self install you really need to get an installer on board first.

cognis0 · 2024-04-16T19:19:45.602Z

I completely agree that the design and implementation is paramount. I have a Heat Geek coming to visit next week, although there are of course different categories of “geeks” and there are few Elites in my area.

I will be completely open-minded to what he recommends, although having said that I do feel that the Homely provides a step change in the technology which is relatively new. At the moment I’m doing the background research so that I can hold a hopefully somewhat meaningful conversation with him. Buying a heat pump is really a bigger investment than buying a car (you can’t sell it on after a year or so). Joe Public can easily find useful reviews of new cars, but that doesn’t work for installing a heat pump and we need to put the legwork in to understand the technology and what might work for our own particular property, and then hope we choose right when appointing our installer…

cognis0 · 2024-04-17T06:05:37.967Z

I should have added that the Heat Geek installer has said he is happy to consider various heat pump manufacturers, although he hasn’t responded to my suggestion of the Homely controller, so it will be interesting to see how our discussions go…

KnightPhoenix · 2024-04-18T21:01:06.250Z

One common misconception is that you are just installing a heatpump.

If done correctly you are actually re designing the central heating system to run at a lower design flow temperature (with weather compensation) and also changing the heating source.

If you want more information look at the heat geek consumer advice series and also look up low temperature heating system design.

For the highest SCOP you really need to get the design flow temperature to 35°c or 40°c (or lower if possible), that usually means quite a few radiator replacements and posibally some re piping (a good installer will advise what is possible).

Regarding Homely I am very much in the fence, in theory if you setup and correctly adjust the weather dependent curve and balance the system you shouldn’t need to use Homely as the pump will do all the hard work and run as designed.

For some systems such as Daikin that require an extra dcom module, pushing the cost of parts only up to £500+ then needing to have it installed by a trained installer for me is off-putting. I would rather invest that money in WWHR or a better cylinder to improve the COP of DHW cycles.

glyn.hudson · 2024-04-18T22:16:58.382Z

Hey Tony,

Thanks for your comments!

The new Samsung R290 with Homely look like it could be an excellent option. I don’t have first-hand experience of Homely, but I’ve heard good things. The Samsung controller is a weak point of the Samsung system, supposedly Homely will fix his.

Agree, that the system design and installation is more important than choice of specific heat pump unit. Particularly emitter sizing, any heat pump will work well if you have large emitters and can run at the lowest possible flow temperature.

cognis0 · 2024-04-19T06:07:21.519Z

Absolutely regarding ensuring that the flow temperature is as low as possible. And for me that is why the Homely appears to be a great solution: it is monitoring both the weather and the indoor temperature and based on it’s learned response of the building fabric to changing weather it adjusts the heat pump output to ensure the lowest flow temperature and minimise cycling. Sounds good to me anyway!

cognis0 · 2024-04-19T13:35:28.945Z

Thanks for the feedback @glyn.hudson. I will need to improve some of the radiators, preferably with some reclaimed cast iron affairs which should work well at lower temperatures. We have bottled gas type “wood burning” stoves which put out an enormous out of heat (I’ve never used them for more than 20 mins at a time), so I might just see how the current rads work of one winter before deciding which rads to upgrade. Something to talk through with the installer…