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This is a wonderfully helpful video. No music, no graphics, no annoying voice - just an intelligent guy explaining the system in terms anyone can understand. Thankyou.

You are an excellent presenter and spokesman for your company - very clear and comprehensive delivery without overwhelming your audience with jargon and complex concepts. And this is from a former technical writer.

That looks a good product. I work for a housing association and we have plenty of properties with heat pumps with cylinders. Quite a lot of them are bungalows with wet rooms. The large cylinders are only used for washing up and washing hands. A terrible waste of energy. This looks like an excellent solution. I'm a plumbing and heating engineer and think we have a long way to go to for heat pumps, whether ground source or air source to work as well or as cheaply as gas boilers. Especially in social housing. This is definitely heading in the right direction.

I do like the glass front showing off all the pipes inside. It’s like a piece of artwork. Absolutely amazing tech. Thank you for sharing this.

The one most important question is what does it cost over a conventional tank, their are loads of great energy devices out there but the cost makes them impartible.

That’s a really neat idea. The ability to store actual heat in a chemical solution where it could then sit on a shelf for a long duration without loosing the stored energy because it is no longer simple heat in a tank, then all at once you can essentially press a button and the energy will change from chemical potential in waiting back into physical heat to be used/enjoyed. It makes perfect sense why this is called a heat battery.

Heat batteries using something other than water are a good idea for saving space. You can only heat water to 100C, but there are plenty of other materials that will be happy at 500C. There are some interesting designs that just use large masses of sand. The design of this system seems pretty innovative.

Fantastic bit of kit, they should look at getting that into the marine industry too, excess heat from the engines stored for hot water onboard ... good to have finally met up with you guys

Very nice presentation, along with a very nice product. I have worked in industry over 40 yrs, with equip producing temp as low as -40 thru glass oven operating at 1270 deg. Can you imagine the wasted free energy, my crews have pissed out the window in that time frame.

Would only take this over a traditional storage if it comes with the same showroom front plexiglas, that storage looks cool 💪

I'd like to know how many BTU's (or equivalent) are stored in the various sizes. That's really the only way to know if it will perform as needed.

Lots and lots of questions asking about controllability of the PCM, for example when you turn a hot tap on..then off after a few seconds….does the reaction stop or does the unit discharge all its heat and then need a “re charge”. Pointedly, although this question keeps getting asked, neither Sunamp or eFixx have responded ( unless I have missed it ) ????

That was really interesting, Its a phase changing heat store, Great We need inovations like this .. But More info would be useful.... what temperature does it melt at ? How hot must your heat pump run? How hot does it make the water ? Whats its life span ( small pipes fir up) ? Whats its cost (& that might be affordable as its only a heat exchanger , salt & vinegar). ? With this the Heat Pump flow needs to be hotter than the melting point, & the melting point hotter than the hot water So here you have 2 "Hotters" , If you have a normal cylinder , the Heat pump only needs to be hotter than the hot water, 1 "Hotter". Getting the heap pump flow as low as possible is best for COP. Thoughts ?

The Sunamp is great, but sadly very few trades know anything about them and there are even less installers in the North of England. Would consider getting one to replace a hot water tank but not cheap as just an upgrade. Like the new channel!

Fascinating. Once the pcm reaction starts, can it be stopped? Or all the hot water has to be consumed at one go?

What a great piece of kit! Assume you can run this from a boiler also at lower temperatures with no issue while you look to start exploring HP & low temp systems?

That was really interesting, well presented and a clear explanation of an excellent product. I'm an energy assessor and this looks like it could be a game changer in the industry.

I would see this product as combo with a less complex heat pump. With this product you can simplify the HP, you can have a mono temperature heat pump. No need of special components for hight temperature heat (two speed compressor, added three way valves etc).

Absolutely brilliant!

1.Great to see efixx going into home energy area. 2. How heavy are these? Could they be installed onto a wall like a boiler can? As it's ok being small, but if they have to be ground mounted, that reduces some of the benefits. 3. I think Fully Charged home series video included Sunamp products for a couple of tower blocks in Sunderland. Apparently, one of the benefits was low maintenance costs, but some real world costs/ testing/data would be appreciated.

We’ve installed a few, great piece of kit

At scale it's even more advantageous for storing heat on heat networks as unlike a buffer tank, all the heat comes of at the same temperature rather than cooling as heat is taken off.

That looks like a great bit of technology.

Amazing. Real point about Legionella. Still seems like steam engine from light trickle on heated material, then feeding a chemistry battery remains option for house. For electric vehicles has to be applications too. Electricians must know immediately.

I was experementing with this technique some years ago.. Really glad to see one tgis idea made an actual product by someone. I am wondering how you trigger the phase change when you need it.. Also something very interesting you forget to mention is tha the energy is stored individually from the environment .. what i mean is that if you store a hot water in a tank if its freezing cold outside it will loose its heat but this is independent from the environment you can have it in the snow for hours you will still have the heat once you triggered the reaction ... Even better you in a bigger scale you can store heat on summer and just trigger it months later to have heat on winter !! Well done guys

The big question for me is flow rates, as in litres per minute pass through at 60 degrees no good if it's like an undersized combi boiler having to slow the tap down to get nice hot water!

I have a heat pump installed (in 2010) and am costing a replacement. The Thermino looks great and would definitely offer space saving over the 600 litre unvented tank currently installed. Our water is very hard - how does the Thermino cope with scaling? Also the current tank has two circuits, one for the underfloor heating and one for DHW. Do I need two Thermino units? Great presentation, much appreciated.

Ok this is extremely interesting. I'm a plumber and this seems to be a game changer

I would see that in Switzerland especially in 2nd houses (chalet) where you have a seperate system to do HW with a boiler doing 20 cycle of 20 to 75deg during the year for nothing. When you only need a pcm pluged to the main heater with the temperature around 50 deg.

Good presentation. I have been looking at these for a while, thinking this could be an ideal solution to replace my gas boiler. Few questions I've had: 1) Could they replace my boiler for the central heating as well as heat my hot water? 2) Could I heat overnight from the grid on cheap energy as well as using my solar panels? 3) How cost efficient are they to run compared to a gas/electric boiler? 4) If I heated it up at night on cheap rate electricity could it heat my home all day? (obviously depends on size of house, how cold etc, but looking for some averages).

What is the temperature, where the phase change happens? Does this fit to all kind of Heatpumps? Or is the Salt-Vinegar mixture actually adjusted to your individual system at home?

There aren't many materials with a higher specific heat than water, and those are phase change materials. But even heat stored in phase change medium is subject to the exact same thermal losses - you don't own the heat - you only borrow it. If you don't use it, it goes away the same as if it was stored as hot water.

Good video with great & clear explanation. I’ve purchased the smallest version - the 70e & managed to get it into the loft of our one bedroom top floor flat. We are on the Octopus Agile tariff which is working out about 45% cheaper than Economy 7 but atm I’m scheduling the charging of the battery manually using the Smart Life App. I would like to automate this process with something like the IFTTT but my smart switch doesn’t seem to be compatible. Any recommendations how to do this?

Good to know about this as It is so new. Was watching and thinking what’s this got to do with electrics until I realised it was a different channel 😂

We have an older version, the Uniq, not the Thermino, but I imagine the principle is the same. Interesting to see it explained properly at last, rather than just the 'it works like a hand warmer' I got from the Fischer Future heat fitters. I'm still not quite sure though how it works with only cold water coming through it, as it is our only source of hot water, no immersion heater tank, so does it just use electricity to turn the pcm back to it's liquid form, ready for the next time water is needed heating?

Can you tell me more about the pressure relief valve?

A key question is in how the stored energy is released? Is it released all at once or can it be released in fractions? With the hand warmer example, all of the stored energy is released at once. It takes time to cool down, but the whole lot of sodium acetate is crystallised in one go. It's not like a battery where I can draw off just the energy I require.

So we want to heat up our home hot water with a extra large hand warmer? It's super old technology that's been stickered over with catchy marketing jargon like "phase change material" when it's just a hand warmer in a box?

You mention a lower temp requirement since there is no risk of legionella since the water isn't stored, but it looks like the minimum input temp requirement is 65c/149f which is still quite hot as far as air to water heat pumps are concerned. Is that correct?

Great idea but leaves me with two questions, firstly how do you trigger the crystallisation process within the unit and secondly once triggered how do you control it and prevent all the solution from crystallising at once and hence expending all the energy in one go.

If the piping has no issues with lime scale.... That's a great product!

Great explanation

Thank God they're about £2000. I'm just installing a Gledhill 200L tank which has cost me around £600 including pipes and fittings. Having said that, I'd still need a £5000 heat pump as well to make the Sunamp wor, unless I just ran it from the immersion heater. What size is the the immersion heater you can fit?

Providing it works. Really the most important question is does it require a service and how long will it last. How hot can you get the water. How many gallons of hot water a minute will it provide.

Looking forward to seeing more content on this channel !! I have seen these down at the National Self Build & Renovation Centre in Swindon (very much worth a visit BTW) Fascinating concept, but I REALLY would like to see some real-world data on this sort of stuff. I won't be short on space, so I am likely to go with a cylinder, but I would consider this if I saw some real end-user experience and data. As it stands, I would not have the confidence to put one of these in.

Nice product, but from what I've researched, the PCM melts at 58C, for domestic hot water applications. If thats correct, then the battery won't charge off a standalone, low temperature, air-to-water heat pump. You'd need a high temp heat pump or a supplemental immersion heat source. Where's the operational cost benefit in that?

I'm always suspicious of new products, but this sounds a viable option to gas. However what is the life expectancy of this product and does it need regular servicing?

I enjoyed the video very much thank you. You mention with its 'energy efficiency' (5.10 time line) but you don't mention how efficient it is? Ideally it would be good to know how efficient is it compared to a normal domestic hot water.

Looks great but you have left out the most important part. WHAT IS THE COST OF THE UNIT???

How long until this system wears out? What is the max temperature it can work at ? how much heat loss in standby mode compared to a tank?

What is the minimum injection temperature from a heat source to charge the matterial. Do you manufacture a sea container sized heat bank.?

You made it sound so simple but actually there are issues with these. I looked at buying one (the largest they do), they are not cheap and as someone already has mentioned finding an installer is like finding a plumber who actually turns up.. you can’t. They also have a really bad issue in that they don’t recharge once they fall bellow a percentage of usable heat. They will leave you without hot water and god forbid you use these for central heating and hot water as they suggest you can, they will leave you cold. They do have a get out of jail feature though.. Sunamp say buy two! One for a backup. This then makes these so expensive and take up so much room what’s the point? Also you can’t install outside of the home making these pretty useless if you live in a house with not much room. Take my advice and don’t get rid of your water tank. There’s plenty of other ways of filling that with cheaper energy if you have solar or use the grid over night using an EV tariff.

I get free power between 9pm and midnight every day. I would like to store enough energy to release say 300w at 220v for 6 hours 1.8kwh

Is there any studies that actually show if there are any savings in electricity with the Sun amp water heater.

so, what volume of hot water is available from this? Enough to fill a bath for example?

Very informative. Can you tell me if there are any benefits to installing a Sunamp if you don't have solar panels or a heat exchanger, but instead use mains electricity?

Is it possible to use these sunamps for hot water and supplying heat to your radiators? Am I missing something obvious? In my mind the unit is just a source of heat so it could have 2 separate feeds going in to it to heat both your hot water and run your radiators? Other questions off the back of what I have just said are: 1. how long would it take to charge up just using cheap off peak electric. 2. How long would it take to deplete it’s heat when it’s used for radiators. 3. Wouldn’t it be possible to avoid having a heat pump if you charged the sunamp with overnight cheap electricity - also charged up a solar PV battery at same time - then used the PV and or the PV battery later in the day to recharge the sunamp during peak time but using the free electric from your PV or the off peak electric stored in the PV battery? Isn’t this a sensible doable solution that avoids heat pumps that seem very expensive. Yes you have the expense of fitting PV and buying a battery. The only down side I can find (if the sunamp can be used in the way I describe) is that some people may want a heat pump to give them a cooling capability if we see those 40 degree days again. I have PV already and it pays me back around £300 per year from F.I.T and obviously it saves me more by supplying me with electricity during daylight hours so my question is why spend money on a heat pump when a solar PV battery might be a better money saver IF….a sunamp is capable of providing central heating and hot water? I welcome being educated by anyone who knows the capabilities of the sunamps.

When the system fails, and it will. I can imagine the cost for someone to come out and fix it right the first time will be astronomical. It reminds me of an old Homart stainless steel porcelain lined gas furnace in a house I used to own, sure it wasn't that efficient but it chugged away every year for 50 years and it still in the house. My Sister had a new high efficiency model and had a guy out every year to fix the damn thing. Technology is great just make sure its dependable!

Interesting. Like others on KZfaq, I'm curious about residential cost and installation procedure. I'm also state side, and there don't appear to be any distribution channels for us.

Will it work with soils fuel boiler stove.

it could easily be put on the roof near the solar panels. even a drain back heat collector to heat it, twice as efficient as PV panels, so half the size.

How does it control the crystallisation process? If the design is similar to heat pads, once crystallisation starts, it can't be stopped. In which case, you would need to use all of the energy that it is storing immediately, else it would go to waste.

what is the unit cost vs equivalent 300l tank storage?, ignoring installation etc, just basically the cost of the unit...

I’m about to get UniQ HW 6 +i fitted in the next couple of weeks. Any feed back would be amazing it’s still not too late for me to cancel. Pro’s & Cons Thnaks

Clever stuff! 😎👌 So it's a bit like pumping water through a grid of pipes and heat exchangers set in the chemical? Or like a storage heater stores its heat?... Salt & vinegar for your chips by the bucket full if it leaks lol.

It does not make that much sense regarding the discharging of heat, but I can see this technology potential with integrated preheater "temperature ranges for pcm is not that high" in commercial hot water application, iam conducting my graduation research in this matter, Would appreciate any feedback.

Very good product

Strong on promises, very short on SI units.

First how hot does it get so how much energy does it store and will it heat up the water really instantly. Second when lets say the 300 liter capacity is spent, how long will it take until it is operational again to heat up the same amount?

Brilliant idea. Now I've got to figure out how am I gonna fill my 400l hot water storage tank with sodium acetate... Making 400l of sodium acetate never crossed my mind tho... until today. Thank you.

Great stuff. Have you looked at its compatibility with a thermodynamic heating panel system?

I have an aging gas boiler that requires changing. The replacement cost is not cheap and so are you suggesting that this unit replaces the existing tank as well! Heat exchangers are not cheap either, and until prices are much lower, for me, are not an option. An indication of what it all might cost is, unfortunately, missing from this otherwise clear description of how the unit functions.

Might be a silly question but can you feed cold water into this to make it hot ?

Does the electrical circuit stop when a certain temperature has been reached?

Hi, quick question. The data sheets state a 25l/min max draw off at 55 degC. If for argument sake I draw off at this rate this will give me 12 mins of 55 degC water but after this, does the temperature just degrade to a lower value? I know in reality a shower will be mixed down so this isn't a real life scenario but wanted to understand how it works. Also, from a reheat prespective how much energy is required to re-energise the phase change material? For a 300 L tank with reheat of 2hrs from 10-60 degC is 8.8kw (4.4kwh of direct electricity) what is the equivalent here? if my maths is out let me know but in priciple what is the comparison? If it can continually produce low grade heat after the initial discharge then this is very good; just thinking about a very busy house if people are having loads of showers if guests are around Thanks

Good stuff, thanks for sharing!

Looks good although seems to depend on a heat pump and no mention made of the cost!

Its standby power is 7W...it's like 2 LED bulbs switched on, what does it do when standing by, why 7W for standby? For the "e" models (mains electricity only models), does it need to use the full power for hours each day, or only need the power at the moment when the hot water taps are switched on?

What is the flow rate you can achieve with these, the sun amp needs to heat the water to use, can you fill a bath or run a shower whilst the kitchen is being used?

What is the melting/freezing point of your phase change material? I want to make a coffee cup that absorbs the "too hot to drink" energy but gives it back (phase change temp) to flatten the temp drop curve to lengthen the optimal drinking temp time? Brilliant right?

Links in description not 'working'!?

Interesting.

What about if you have poor water pressure? Still need pumps?

Brilliant but expensive. I had a look at pcm's but decided to use water 10000 liters of it. However i am looking at combining the two technologies. Work in progress.

I hope to build a house with 55gal drums full of this someday. Then solar heat it during the day and use the phase change to get more even heat output thru the night. Under used technology.

great video and great idea

Wow , brilliant

Traditional heater used 4-5 times more energy, so I don't see how this would increase the efficiency. Heat pumps are efficient at low temperatures (under 50). At what temperature this phase change material works?

The issue I have though isonce activated requires a electronic feed of 78w constant to be stable since water temp inlet can also,activate it, so a equivalent of £5.40 A day just on standby at 30p per kw , not a lot but enough to add up a but also once activated is on constant on and when you look into it that’s the equivent of an old g rated standby use , the biggest issue Whist it accepts mains feed the heat unit transfers to the outlet at just 14 litres per min , the same as a low feed combi , multiple units need to be connected to outlet to equivalent flow of 26 litres that a cylinder can handle, also the purchase option is extremely complicated, now days pv is quite common now and in the future but you can’t add that heat pump and gas feed together with immersion feed and pv is only the equivalent of .3.3 kw making recovery time significantly slower from anywhere for a full recharge up to hours via electricity. This badly needs to be fixed and upgraded otherwise it means expensive three way heat exchanger for two plus two feeds

It plugs in the wall socket!! Game over.

Can this be added to a thankless water heater system? I have a gas tank less in my house. I'll be adding PV on the roof and this seems like a cost effective way to store energy

How heavy are these units, do they arrive empty and we add water on installation?

Looks great, but the cost is the same as an HWC and the local plumber can't install it. The watts saved are too small to measure in the scheme of things (200 quid a year based on their claims). PV direct into 48v HWC element seems simpler.

Is, it as fast as a 250 litre tank in filling your bath. Or is as slow as combo boiler?

Hello Do you do any training course to be an approved installer in order to get maximum warranty for the unit Thank you

Does this system need venting the site I’m choosing will be difficult to get to outside just worried about overpressure? Thanks james

Need to get a boatload sent down under!! Great idea!

Excellent!

How many inputs does one of these have? Could I connect an oil boiler, boiler stove and solar hot water together? It looks like an interesting idea that would be worth further research. Thanks