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  UK’s first use of a plate heat exchanger in a domestic cylinder

• patented Scale-Stop technology to remove the risk of limescale build-up

Need for renewable heating

The Ecodan advanced range answers the growing need for more renewable heating in the UK as the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) also moves from its legacy stage into supporting new market growth.

Max Halliwell, Product Marketing Manager for domestic Ecodan range: “This is our fifth generation of heat pump solutions and we have looked at just about every aspect so that we can maximise efficiency and ease both installation and operation. We are proud to have been first to market with several initiatives in heat pumps and this new generation continues that trend by putting Ecodan far ahead of any other system. We set out to develop a very sophisticated machine with a simple front end.”

MCS certification

Ecodan milestones:

• first inverter-driven air source heat pump in the UK to receive MCS (Micro Certification Scheme) certification
• first UK-manufactured unit to receive the prestigious Eco Label
• only air source heat pump that have received the Noise Abatement Society’s ‘Quiet Mark’
• first to offer intelligent room sensing as standard

Mitsubishi Electrichas invested heavily in R&D facilities at its UK manufacturing plant in Livingston to focus on the experience of the homeowner, simplifying the installation for the contractor, and making maintenance and monitoring even easier:

FTC5 range

Available from January 2015, the FTC5 range includes a complete new range of new cylinders which focus on:

• improvements in heat loss performance
• hot water recovery efficiency and time
• ease of installation and use

All ten of the new cylinders dispense with the traditional internal coil method of water heating and instead use an external plate heat exchanger which increases hot water heat up efficiency by 17 per cent over previous models.

Incentive payments

Max Halliwell explains: “We think that this will grab the headlines because it challenges the traditional ways of heating a cylinder, but equally important to us is the introduction of remote energy monitoring which will now be installed on every Ecodan that leaves the factory. We see this as a key way of demonstrating the effectiveness of heat pumps moving forward and helping homeowners qualify for incentive payments”.

FTC5 range offers three different options for homeowners:

• Standard level which is pre-installed at the factory, offering remote energy monitoring using partial estimation of energy use
• Level Two which includes the addition of an electric meter
• Level Three which adds a Metering and Monitoring Service Package (MMSP) heat meter, enabling homeowners to receive an additional RHI payment of £230 per year for seven years

Max Halliwell: “We believe that this is one of the strongest ways of demonstrating our faith in the possibilities for the heat pump market. The ability to monitor and measure energy consumption is not only key to Government incentives but will also become increasingly important as energy prices continue to rise. Adding this facility will allow homeowners to measure and maximise system efficiency and minimise run costs”.

Addressing limescale

Plate heat exchangers use forced convection to heat the water cylinder, rather than the natural convection of a coil and this increases the Delta T, meaning that the water heats up more quickly and recovers temperature quicker when some hot water is used.

However, many parts of the UK suffer from limescale in the water supply and plate heat exchangers are more likely to scale up and drop in performance, which is where the Patented Scale-Stop technology from Mitsubishi Electric comes into its own.

The system promotes the precipitation of scale inside the trap rather than on the plate in the heat exchanger and maintains the high performance for over 10 years, even in hard water areas.

Other initiatives

Patented cold inlet diffuser for all of the Pre-plumbed cylinders

This ensures reduced mixing of cold inlet water with stratified hot water. The device sits within the center of tank, reducing the velocity of the cold water entering tank and reducing the smoother acceptance of the new cold water within the cylinder

New titanium immersion heater  

Sets a new standard for operational life – even in the hardest or most aggressive water conditions.  Titanium’s strength, weight and smooth finish enables it to withstand extreme stress, fluctuating temperatures and corrosive environments.

John Kellett, General Manager of Mitsubishi Electric’s heating systems: “We expect the heat pump market to continue to grow steadily through a combination of the RHI and in answer to the increasing costs of oil and LPG. We have prepared this new range to ensure that Ecodan is ready to answer that growing need”.