Hitachi EcoCute DHW ASHP or better CoP

[ritchyp]

Hi to everybody, I have just registered.

I am currently a housing developer in the UK. I used to be in the industrial aircon trade.
I am building my first Eco house and found the thread (which is now closed) about the Hitachi Ecocute. They are not available in the UK and wondered if you can buy them in the States or direct from an agent in Japan.
I also found an interesting post in that thread about an ASHP with a COP of 9.

I often import things from the USA - I had a large curved glass rooflight made and shipped over for this development.

If anybody has any useful leads or advice I would be very grateful :)

richy

[al]

I find Logicool great for Hitachi parts and info, drop them a line and see if they can list it?

http://www.logicool-ac.com/

al

[chillerman2006]

I used to be in the industrial aircon trade.

I am building my first Eco house and found the thread (which is now closed) about the Hitachi Ecocute. They are not available in the UK and wondered if you can buy them in the States or direct from an agent in Japan.

I also found an interesting post in that thread about an ASHP with a COP of 9.

Hi ritchy

with industrial air conditioning chillers, they are designed/made for the climate they will work in, a uk specced unit for example will not work in Dubai as the condensor/fan set up will not be able to reject the heat needed to condense/subcool the refrigerant

the same goes with an heat pump designed for warmer climates, will not be able to transfer enough heat into the evaporator in the uk's lower climate, so I would suggest that you look into heat pumps that are available here in the uk.... as they should be specced for our temperatures

as your building an eco house & insulation will be to the max ?? A heat pump should be a viable option for you.... but there is a big problem in the uk of heat pump installations not being designed correctly... basically down to lack of knowlegde by the designers/installation company

customers buy their super economic heat pump and then get landed with massive electric bills and then blame this on the heat pump technology it self.... when its not, its a design flaw but still the technology is getting the blame and a bad name

you need without doubt a good heat pump system designer (no plumbers) to make this work for you... there are two here that I can recommend if you can not find one that can prove 100% that they have the concept sust.... neither are in England though and obviously method of payment would need to be the first box to tick if you would like to use their expertise

btw, if you ever find a heat pump that works in the uk with a cop of 9, be sure to let me know mate, what it is & how its works ;)

R's chillerman

[MikeHolm]

Ritchy, Daikin has just entered the US market and Mitsi is only starting to sell Air to water HPs here in the last little while. I don't think the EcoCute is available here at all (or if so it is just available, but I doubt it), the cost to get it certified is nuts and I'm not sure the market is ready for it yet to be justified. I think the prices in the UK will be better than the US. Also our natural gas prices are, in Canada anyway, only about $.30/m3 and it is hard to compete with that electrically.