Rinnai Enviroflo Heat Pump

I recently purchased a Rinnai Enviroflo GR300 heat pump through Installed Today and had a very positive experience from start to finish. The price for supply was very competitive compared with other quotes I received, and delivery arrived within just two days, which was much quicker than expected. Communication was clear and responsive throughout… Read more ·  1

the process, and they were easy to deal with.

The installer was punctual, professional and well-organised. The installation was completed efficiently and without any hassle, and the site was left clean and tidy afterwards. He also took the time to explain how the system operates and how to set the timer and controls properly.

The Rinnai Enviroflo unit itself runs quietly and heats water quickly, and so far performance has been excellent.

Overall, very happy with both Installed Today and the Rinnai Enviroflo system. I would happily recommend them to anyone considering a heat pump hot water upgrade

Nice work – This my first time.Good tank. Good service.works very well. Thank you. Show details ·  1

A complete and relatively efficient package – The Enviroflo combines heat pump water heating and backup electric resistance heating in a single unit. Some brands have a separate water tank and refrigeration system. Not all brands offer resistance heating. We need resistance heating (see MAX below) to supplement the heat pump's output during Canberra's cold winters. The unit's biggest negative… Read more ·  1

is that, once it has reached full temperature, it takes more than running a full hot bath to persuade it to start re-heating the water. As a result, it runs out of hot water more often than it should. The compressor and fan are about as noisy as our bathroom exhaust fan.

The unit has 3 settings - Eco, Mid and Max. * ECO works well in summer. It uses only the heat pump, and heats the water to 55 degrees C. * MID works well in spring and autumn. It heats the water to 57 degrees C. That increases hot water capacity by about 5%, at the expense of a similar increase in running costs. * MAX works well in winter. It heats the water to 60 degrees C using heat pump and 2.4 kW of resistance heating together. That provides a minor increase in hot water capacity and a significant improvement in recovery time, at the expense of a significant increase in running costs.

Later models come with WiFi control. That would be an advantage for people who want to optimise the hot water system to make best use of solar electricity. People on time-of-use tariffs can use WiFi control to minimise the hot water system's of use expensive peak time electricity.

Information about the unit's efficiency is confusing and incomplete. Running costs (when not using electric resistance heating) depend on the unit's coefficient of performance (COP). COP varies with air temperature and with inlet and outlet water temperatures. Running costs also depend how much work the compressor has to do to replace heat that is lost through the tank's insulation. The brochure says that the rated input of the refrigeration module is 1 kW, and the heat pump heating capacity is 5.2 kW. That implies a COP of 5.2. It also says that the COP is 7.2. It provides no information about insulation.

If I could give a zero I would – I cannot believe how loud this is. Not only did we pay double what the replacement of an electric one cost, we’ve been given something that can be heard through our house when it heats up, and that is often, and for hours. The plumbers never advised during the “consultation” it would make a noise let alone one this loud AND it’s literally right… Read more

next to our sons bedroom window. The manual says “MUST” consider placement and not put near bedrooms. I cannot express how angry I am. There should be very clear information provided about the noise in the sales or purchase procsss. Don’t buy this water heater.

Glad to have moved on from gas – Electricity costs were adding up, even more so nowadays, so we decided to go with a heat pump. We wanted Australian made quality, our Rinnai instant worked great and was reliable, so we went with the Eviroflo. A bit noisier than the gas but it doesn’t run much particularly in Summer. Just wish it had the Wifi like the new ones, so we can run when the solar is generating power. Thankfully even with teenagers, the running costs aren’t too high. Show details ·  1

Warranty too short to represent the required value – Cons My unit was DOA, there was no external indication of failure -only discovered by way of energy monitoring provided by my solar system (fronius smart meter). -backup element heated water instead. Warranty on electronic components is just 12 months - this fact would have stopped me in my tracks buying it in the first place but my builder… Read more

told me it was a must have for certificate of occupancy which is a complete lie for the record and I should have researched that more at the time as no-one brought the short warranty to my attention and thats a deal breaker for me sadly as its a huge dick around to get my builder to do something else.

Debatable pro/con Its design includes an electric pump (uninsulated and external to tank) and heat exchanger also external to tank-connection tank to heat exchanger is by flexible braided hoses like you find connecting your kitchen taps. - these were not insulated nor was much of the hot circuit of refrigerant pipes and these sit in direct airflow ie ambient air being drawn across pipes trying to heat the water. Alternative design is wrapping the hot refrigerant pipe around the tank (istore /Midea/Chromagen examples) this removes any contact between water and heat pump parts.

Has no smarts and no user settable parameters -such as perferred run times (11am-4pm) when ambient temps are warmest and efficiency is maximised- cannot be connected to timer or inverter switched output to maximise solar input from self generated PV energy and warmer ambient temps during the day or triggered by IFTTT WIFI type device to trigger operation. (I-store offers a basic triggered input and stiebel offer a boost temp mode to increase the tank temp above normal 60degrees when excess pv is available as examples) Upside here is unit carries more hot water than any other in class (335 vs 270-315L but recovery may be slower as more water to heat and same or similar size heat pump at around 1kW for 4kW to tank.

Pros Class leading size at 335L and when running is very quiet. I think with a couple of improvements this would be a great unit but I'm not going to be a guinea pig with a 12 month warranty on electronic parts when it will take 5 years of hot water to yield a financial gain for the average family and if the manufacturer wont back it for 5 years - so why should I ?

As a comparison here I run my AC in the car almost anytime im in it - you average just 30km/hr and do 15000kms a year the AC compressor in your car lives in a more hostile environment and gets a full 5 year warranty so this should offer the same.

There are three subsidies in Victoria for Heat pump hot water in line with our global commitment to reduce greenhouse emissions. STC rebate typically 26-30 STC's for most heat pumps on the market @$38 today . VEEC rebate Victorian Energy Efficiency Certificate (varies depending on new build or replacement but VEECS are trading at $80+ and the unit is good for 27-29 depending on where its installed) and now Solar vitoria offers $1000 ontop if you meet their criteria re income etc. Hence if replacing an electric unit - there is so many rebates available they should be paying you to get one!

This solution is both more reliable and cost effective than a traditional set of thermal collectors on the roof and typically uses less energy a year than whats required to boost a thermal system just in winter. (hot water in summer is easy as input water temps are higher and hot water demands lower)

It took Rinnai quite a while to gear up to be able to come out and properly diagnose the fault after asking if it was fed with natural or bottled gas (insert roll on floor laughing emoji here). They started out by telling me all about their fees and charges should there be a problem with installation etc (get out of jail free card - blame someone else) Personally i dont think it would be viable to replace the failed pressure sensor but later correspondence suggests this could be done but in good faith they would replace the unit. I felt unconvinced that the unit has had sufficent runs on the board as this is a new offering from Rinnai. SO ...despite my offer for them to extend (in writing) the warranty to 5 years parts and labour on the entire unit was reasonable given the first was DOA was unable to be actioned.

They have instead offered a full refund of the purchase price and to compensate me for the energy cost to run it over an electric only sevice which is as required by Australian consumer protections by law.

Rinnai has perhaps the very best brand in Hot water in Australia and hundreds of thousands perhaps millions of their instant gas units in service across Australia - they could absolutely lead the heat pump space with some additions such as WIFI for remote diagnostics, run time, tank temps and battery level type indicator for available hot water, a set of diagnostic lights visible externally could also offer some peace of mind to know its actually working for the consumer.