Best heat pump brands?

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jmh

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#191829 17-Feb-2016 18:18

I just had a guy around to measure and quote for a small heatpump in the master bedroom. Getting back to me with a quote. He recommended the Fujitsu, or second option was a Mitsubishi. I had seen a Panasonic in the store and thought it looked aesthetically pleasing. He said he didn't have a brochure for that brand as they never fit them (maybe because they don't have a brochure?). Anyway, I got the impression that Panasonic is off the cards if I go with this company.

Does anyone have an opinion on brands. Seems most companies I googled are promoting Fujitsu. Is it because they are particularly good, or is there commission/kick back good for the fitter? Or does it make no difference which brand I go with.

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#1494222 17-Feb-2016 18:21

Fujitsu Nocria is quite loud indoors, but efficient and effective. My older Daikin is quiet a bit quieter. If I was doing it again I'd get a ducted unit, as right now it's a challenge to heat and cool outside of the individual room the heat pumps are in - around one corner into a hallway is ok, but around two corners into another room takes a lot longer and often requires additional fans.

scuwp

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#1494232 17-Feb-2016 18:42

Happy with my Fujitsu. Watch the placement of the outside unit. Doesn't matter what brand they can be noisy, particularly outside a bedroom.

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robjg63

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#1494249 17-Feb-2016 19:39

The place that installed our 2 heatpumps 12 months ago sell 5 different mainstream brands and are apparently accredited installers of 'all major brand's.
The guy doing the quotes said Daiken and Mitsubishi are very good as is Panasonic.
He said there wasn't a lot between them, but Panasonic had the best after sale support in his opinion - Parts backup etc.

We are happy with our Panasonic's.
Yep - be careful with placement of the outside unit especially bedrooms.

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jfanning

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#1494250 17-Feb-2016 19:48

We have the outside unit of one of our ones installed outside our daughters bedroom, you can't hear it unless you open the windows (which we don't in Winter). It is a Daiken.

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#1494342 17-Feb-2016 20:24

We have two "split" heat pumps in our Wellington house, a Fujitsu and a Mitsubishi - both are at least 5 years old and came with the house.

Both work well, but the Mitsubishi is quieter and more efficient, and heats a cold room faster.

We will eventually replace the Fujitsu with another Mitsubishi.

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Kickinbac

427 posts

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#1494495 17-Feb-2016 23:32

Daikin and Mitsubishi Electric are by far the best.
Do your research and look closely at the efficiency (COP & EER) and the noise levels. Obviously price comes into it but you get what you pay for.
The new Daikin Cora units look good and very efficient and will most likely put these in my house.

6FIEND

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#1494607 18-Feb-2016 08:54

Although this is heresay, two of my friends work in the industry. (Mostly commercial, but occasionally residential)

Both of them have an intense dislike for Fujitsu units - spending significant time repairing or replacing them.

Both of them recommend Toshiba, and have gone so far as to state (and demonstrate)that they will install nothing else in their own homes.

Personally, I have no experience with heatpumps - so I'm only relating 2nd hand info. However, I swear that this is the last Auckland summer that I will suffer through without one! ;-)

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jonathan18

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#1494649 18-Feb-2016 09:33

Some I've spoken to think highly of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries products, though I've hardly seen these in use in the domestic setting?

Given by how many brands recommended here, it seems like there's not a clear answer to your question!

The three different Fujitsus we've had installed have been fine; the small one we have in the HT is really quick to start cooling and the noise is fine; it was also probably the most affordable of the ok quality units we looked at. That said, in the past I've found the timer options quite lacking on their larger models - we put in a big one in the hall and it didn't come with a 7-day timer.

We were also warned off Fujitsus by some installers when getting quotes for a ducted system; then again, some rubbished Panasonic, others loved them - we had different dealers reporting nearly polar opposite experiences with the same brand! Hence my comment that you're unlikely to get consensus on your question.

Perhaps it'll come down to a long list of good-quality brands and then seeing which models work best for you - efficiency, aesthetics, features (eg wifi control?), price...

And what is inevitably more important than brand (other than avoiding Warewhare-style units!) is selecting the right unit for the space - both capacity-wise and type, and selecting the right location for the unit. Eg, we put in a high-wall unit in our long hall, with it at one end and hoped it would send nice warm air the length of it. Of course, we know now a floor-mounted model would have been better, but the solution we went with was by far the best one - a ducted system in all main rooms of the house, as it warms the places we actually live in, not wasting energy heating a hall relying on the airflow to makes its way into the bedrooms off the hall.

Kickinbac

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#1494700 18-Feb-2016 10:25

6FIEND:

Although this is heresay, two of my friends work in the industry. (Mostly commercial, but occasionally residential)

Both of them have an intense dislike for Fujitsu units - spending significant time repairing or replacing them.

Both of them recommend Toshiba, and have gone so far as to state (and demonstrate)that they will install nothing else in their own homes.

Personally, I have no experience with heatpumps - so I'm only relating 2nd hand info. However, I swear that this is the last Auckland summer that I will suffer through without one! ;-)

I didn't want to say that as don't like rubbishing brands as they all have their problems/malfunctions. I am in the industry and the company I work for installs lots of Daikin, Mitsubishi Electric and Toshiba heat pumps. Our guys hate installing and fixing Fujitsu's too (and Hitachi's)... We don't sell them but get people calling up to install units they have bought at Harvey Norman, Mitre 10 etc.

We also service and repair all types of heat pumps but get great technical support from Daikin, Mitsubishi Electric and Toshiba when we need it. They are all very reliable but the odd one has a problem, which is a dodgy circuit board or sensor, but happens with all brands.

I put a Daikin heat pump in at my parents house in 2000, 16 years later it's still going well, just a little corrosion on the feet of the outdoor unit and they are about 200 metres from the beach in Papamoa. In my own house I put in a Mitsubishi Electric which went well for the 6 years I had it before I sold the house.

My existing house has a fire but will be putting in heat pumps in the next couple of months and am going to put in the new Daikin Cora units. I've decided I'm putting a wall mounted heat pump in each bedroom and one in the lounge. The Daikin Coras are basically the same price as the Toshibas and both are cheaper than Mitsubishis. The Daikin Coras are very quiet and efficient and great value for money.

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#1494725 18-Feb-2016 10:55

We have 3 brands in our house. 1 Fujitsu, 2 Mitubishi and 1 Panasonic.

The Fujitsu was terrible from day one. It's noisy, didn't cool well and we had about 8 problems with it. Fujitsu were hard to deal with over warranty claims and you quite frankly couldn't pay me to take another. The Mitsubishi's are good, have Wifi so I can control them from anywhere etc. Quiet and effciient and cheap.

The Panasonic is good as well. Can't complain about it, except no wifi module.

I'd buy either brand again slightly leaning toward the Mitsi.

I've heard good things about Daiken, our sales rep tried hard to get us to go that way, but it was about $300 more and I couldn't get my head around the extra money for little difference.

timmmay

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#1494753 18-Feb-2016 11:09

Kickinbac:

My existing house has a fire but will be putting in heat pumps in the next couple of months and am going to put in the new Daikin Cora units. I've decided I'm putting a wall mounted heat pump in each bedroom and one in the lounge. The Daikin Coras are basically the same price as the Toshibas and both are cheaper than Mitsubishis. The Daikin Coras are very quiet and efficient and great value for money.

Will you have one outdoor unit per heat pump? I'd love a heat pump / air conditioner in my bedroom, but we already have two outdoor units along the driveway, but that's not a big problem. The slightly bigger problem is there's not really any exterior wall space. Is it practical to do a really small, relatively cheap heat pump that's ceiling ducted? If so where does the air come from, another duct in the room / another room? I'd really like it to do two bedrooms, is there anything feasible and cost effective?

Kickinbac

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#1494764 18-Feb-2016 11:10

That's interesting on the Mitsi/Daikin pricing. We buy Daikin's at a better price than Mitsubishi Electrics therefore Daikins are cheaper than Mitsubishi's. It might be a volume thing as we sell way more Daikin's than Mitsi's.

Kickinbac

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#1494944 18-Feb-2016 14:11

timmmay:

Kickinbac:

My existing house has a fire but will be putting in heat pumps in the next couple of months and am going to put in the new Daikin Cora units. I've decided I'm putting a wall mounted heat pump in each bedroom and one in the lounge. The Daikin Coras are basically the same price as the Toshibas and both are cheaper than Mitsubishis. The Daikin Coras are very quiet and efficient and great value for money.

Will you have one outdoor unit per heat pump? I'd love a heat pump / air conditioner in my bedroom, but we already have two outdoor units along the driveway, but that's not a big problem. The slightly bigger problem is there's not really any exterior wall space. Is it practical to do a really small, relatively cheap heat pump that's ceiling ducted? If so where does the air come from, another duct in the room / another room? I'd really like it to do two bedrooms, is there anything feasible and cost effective?

Yes, I'd have one outdoor per indoor unit so four outdoors in total. The 2.5 kW units are quite small and I'd double stack two of them in one location. I got the space in a couple of unobtrusive areas around the back of my house to locate them and can get the pipes between without too much difficulty. I personally prefer the efficiency of split systems and individual room control over a whole house ducted system. I accept the trade off for the visual impact of indoor units and outdoor units. My wife has a differing opinion though! lol. I'm going to cut open some walls to conceal the pipes as we are redecorating anyway. The efficiencies of individual splits is way above multi-splits and ducted units.

As for your house, you could do a small ducted heat pump, generally referred to as a concealed ceiling or bulkhead units. Mitsubishi Electric do a unit at 3.7 kW cooling and 4.2 kW heating (SEZ-KD35) which should be sufficient for two bedrooms. As long as the ductwork is not too extensive would perform ok (1 supply grille and 1 filter return grille in each room). The air recirculates through the supply and return grilles which are within the rooms. The refrigerant pipe and drain can then be run through the ceiling to basically anywhere on the exterior of you house. I'd budget $4500 - $6500 incl GST.

timmmay

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#1494947 18-Feb-2016 14:15

Kickinbac:

Yes, I'd have one outdoor per heat pump so four in total. I got the space in a couple of unobtrusive areas to locate them and can get the pipes to the indoors without too much difficulty. I personally prefer the efficiency of split systems and individual room control over a whole house ducted system. I take the trade off for the visual impact of indoor units and outdoor units. My wife has a differing opinion though! lol

As for your house, you could do a small ducted heat pump, generally referred to as a concealed ceiling or bulkhead units. Mitsubishi Electric do a unit at 3.7 kW cooling and 4.2 kW heating (SEZ-KD35) which should be sufficient for two bedrooms. As long as the ductwork is not too extensive would perform ok (1 supply grille and 1 filter return grille in each room). The air recirculates through the supply and return grilles which are within the rooms. The refrigerant pipe and drain can then be run through the ceiling to basically anywhere on the exterior of you house. I'd budget $4500 - $6500 incl GST.

Interesting, thanks. See what my wife says, could be cheaper to get two individual units, or to just open the door at let the big Nocria heat / cool them both, slowly.

540trickzter

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#1495066 18-Feb-2016 16:11

I've always had preference to Daikin. We've got a Daikin high wall in our current home.

We are in the process of building a new home and are getting a Daikin Ducted system. Going to cost around $16k.

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