Panasonic Splittable Ducted S-125PE4R / U-125PZH3R5 (12.5kW, 14kW)

I bought this system after removing my ducted natural gas heater. I was aware that it would be a different experience to gas. The electric system uses a high volume of warm air to heat, whereas gas uses a higher temperature and lower volume. As the install was in late summer my initial use was for cooling. It was very effective, so much so that I could not find a comfortable temperature, it was either too cold or didn’t cool at all. I’ll experiment more next summer.

The winter heating is good most of the time, with quite quick warming during the day (see 2 below). The large volume of air heats the entire room from ceiling to floor (the vents are in the ceiling). This provides a much more comfortable space when the system is working efficiently.

Now the things I wasn’t told. 1) The air conditioner makes the air extremely dry. At first I thought my allergies were being affected by the dust being disturbed by the increased air flow. But, no. The relative humidity was too low. I have since purchased two humidifiers and run at least one of them almost constantly. This has helped significantly. 2) The system struggles to warm effectively when the outside temperature is below 0 degrees C. This makes mornings in the house colder for longer than I would choose. It also means in the evenings as the temperature outside falls the system uses a larger volume of cooler air to warm, this has the effect of actually making you feel cold as it blows on you. 3) The system has a bypass mode to prevent damage to the ducts. Essentially this means that the vents in the areas that are set to a lower temperature (when heating) or turned off will still have an air flow. This means that in winter the bedrooms become uncomfortably warm and, because of the whole column of air being heated, don’t cool down enough for comfortable sleep. (This is made worse by the inefficient third party zoning system which is not Panasonics fault, but mine).

If I had my time again I would see if there is a system that doesn’t cause such dry air and I would save my money and manage zoning with the native zoning of the system.