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HydroSolar Heat Pump

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Eric_U
Eric_U Member Posts: 4
in A-C, Heat Pumps & Refrigeration
Has anyone heard of this brand? I typically follow a "you get what you pay for" approach to life and this one seems too good to be true. All year I've been looking for an air-to-water heat pump to power my radiant floors and to act as backup forced heat/air but they are hard to come by in America. I was pretty well settled on the Spacepak monobloc system but recently found this HydroSolar company. They are not monobloc so I would need a HVAC person for the refrigerant, however, the unit is several thousand dollars cheaper than any other brand I've come across, and since it is a split unit I wouldn't need a glycol mixture which means I wouldn't have to upsize the radiant pumps like I would with other units. They also have a five year warranty which is much better than some other brands such as Arctic. I'm just nervous that I've never heard of them through months of research and that they cost 50% less than any other brand. The warranty and the fact that they use a Panasonic EVI which is the same as Spacepak and others is why I'm considering them. Thoughts?

Oh, and this unit is 7ton which means I would not need a backup boiler on the coldest night of the year, which I would need for another other brand (Man J says 45k btu heatloss, at 4°F all the other brands on a 5ton unit only provide 36k-41k). No boiler mean even more savings. Too good to be true, right?

Link to unit

Comments

  • Larry Weingarten
    Larry Weingarten Member Posts: 3,989
    Hi, I had not heard of them, so snooped around. One thing I found is this page: https://hydrosolar.ca/collections/hydro-solar-air-to-water-heat-pump It says they have both monoblock and split systems in seven tons. Also found that they have been in business only since 2018. Sometimes companies with a short track record can take out something like an insurance policy, for the purpose of enforcing any warranties they have given. This protection remains in force, even if the company goes out of business. I might ask them about this in order to get some comfort in buying their product. Lastly, their warranty seems pretty restrictive about who can install their equipment. I'd look into that before hitting the buy button!

    Yours, Larry
    Eric_U
  • KTSJCK
    KTSJCK Member Posts: 1
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    I don't know if you have purchased your unit yet, I just came across your post. I am currently installing one of these in the North Georgia mountains. It will be an all three function installation providing,Heat/ Air/ DHW.

    It is a A new construction build, I have coupled it with PEX in concrete basement level,staple up transfer plates on the main level of this ranch house to facilitate the heat load. The AC load will be forced air through a first air water coil forced air handler. Due to the humidity I will incorporate a April Air 80 pint per day dehumidifier in the central system along with a fantec ERV system. I specified and purchased the unit when designing the construction so we are still in work it has been sitting in a crate until recently. If you are not in a hurry I can get back to you with more information once I get the system up to speed.

    Your right The price was right and because it is my own I decided to take a chance on it. My first impression is the technology is tried and true meaning the compressor is Panasonic the other components have been on the market for years. I will tell you that their manuals have a lot of technical information but not much in the way of installation and no available training videos online. If you are doing this yourself you should be well versed in hydronics.

    I would also add that if you can turn on a unit basically have a brace plate heat exchanger free on the water and understand pumps and switches etc you can pretty much cobble a system out of almost anything. And with today's pumps like the VT 2218 if you are are able to get hot or chilled water into a tank and create an energy battery of some kind now all you have to do is pump to the delivery whether that be air handler or heat emitter of any kind sizing the emitters and the air handler and proper ducting in my eyes are the biggest design issues The outdoor unit is common sense otherwise plug in a boiler and call it a day. I only went with this unit because of the fact that natural gas is not available in my area and I'm in a mild climate looking to save money on electrification. The only reason I went with air to water is because my wife likes heated floors. I would say save your money for all the labor of hydronics with modern heat pumps I tell customers all the time you can't pretty much beat the value of just a central heat pump system.

    After All the hype and promises I would tell you nothing beats a good ModCon boiler and if you want a heat pump for the bumper mutts and air conditioning go with a typical heat pump and leave your radiant as a standalone. There again if you want to build something really neat do the air water heat pump

    JK

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