The launch of ‘Heat-Pump-Ready’ across all Mixergy smart tanks
- A Mixergy tank installed with a gas boiler today will work with a heat pump tomorrow without needing to be replaced
- It will also work with solar PV or a hydrogen boiler replacement
- This ensures Mixergy cylinders are ready for the transition to net-zero throughout their 25-year warranty
At Mixergy we are developing smart hot water tanks which only heat what you need, intelligently and efficiently across a range of different energy sources (direct electric, gas, heat-pump, or PV). Our vision is that a stainless hot water tank should last at least 25 years and consequently must be able to handle different sources of energy over its installed life.
There are many Mixergy tanks working with a gas system boiler today, whilst providing low carbon grid support through their direct electric backup systems, but we want Mixergy installations to also work seamlessly with a heat pump should this be installed tomorrow. We have therefore taken the decision that from now on, all Mixergy tanks sold today will be ‘heat-pump ready’ for tomorrow.
What does this mean?
It means that each tank sold now includes two ports which can accommodate an external Heat Transfer Module. If a gas boiler is swapped out with a heat-pump in ten years time, you wont have to change the Mixergy tank, instead, just hook up the heat pump to our heat transfer module and away you go.
Why do we use a heat transfer module instead of a coil?
Our Heat Transfer Modules deliver superior volumetric efficiency whilst maximising the Coefficient of Performance of the system at all times. We can deliver anywhere between 10% to 18% more hot water from the same volume whilst also enhancing the COP by more than 5% compared to market-leading alternatives. The problem with most heat-pump cylinders on the market is the coil inside has to be very large to achieve sufficient heat transfer at low temperatures, furthermore, this coil is unable to heat all the way to the bottom due to the temperature gradient that becomes established across its length during heating. These two drawbacks impact both the volumetric efficiency and the operating COP of the heat pump.
So a Mixergy tank today will get the most out of a system boiler, delivering between 12% to 21% savings on gas*, but, if in future you decide to go for a heat-pump installation, it will also deliver best in class performance without the headache of swapping the cylinder.
The tank will still be controllable via the Mixergy App or through Alexa voice control and will still be capable of optimising your heat schedule against your energy tariff, irrespective of whether this is Economy 7 or a smart time of use contract working with a smart meter.
We shouldn’t have to put up with built-in obsolescence and our environment demands that products today are designed to last. To this end, we only provide cylinders made in high-grade stainless steel and we have designed our electronics to be insanely reliable. For example, we have a novel hybrid solid-state relay switching arrangement to deliver the low losses you get from a mechanical relay with the longevity of silicon.
With the longevity of a Mixergy tank installation, it will return its investment several times over the working life of the product whilst helping the grid accommodate more renewable energy sources.
Contact us if you would like to join the Mixergy community today, either as an installer or consumer, and find out more!
