The Aqua Plus heat pump hot water units are strong choice for those looking for an economical mid-tier heat pump hot water unit.
In our Aqua Plus heat pump review, we run the Aqua Plus units through our four-factor framework, looking at cost, reliability, refrigerant and maintenance.
1. Aqua Plus Heat Pump Cost
Aqua Plus heat pump hot water units are very well priced. A standard installation through Powrhouse applying all three rebates will cost a customer around $1,900 for the 270L unit. This is a little cheaper than the Aquatech Dynamic X8 and Haier Monoblock, and significantly cheaper than an iStore.
Aqua Plus units come in two sizes: 270L and 200L. The pricing doesn’t vary much however – it’s only about $50 cheaper for the larger unit. Most people therefore choose the larger unit to have the extra capacity, but if you have a small home (eg: 2 bedroom) and you’re unlikely to have significant hot water usage, the smaller unit will be cheaper to run.
2. Reliability
Reliability is probably the most important factor in analysing heat pump hot water units. It’s all well and good to have an efficient heat pump that is cheap to run, but it’s a false economy if they don’t last.
Ordinarily we’d look at third party reviews to assess customer feedback on heat pumps. Unfortunately however, there aren’t a great deal of reviews on the Aqua Plus unit, so it’s a little hard to get that “wisdom of the crowds”, knowing that lots of people are happy with the unit.
We have spoken with a number of industry contacts and the feedback certainly looks positive.
Aqua Plus is backed by Hunt Heating, who also run G-Store. Both Hunt Heating and G-Store have a positive reputation in the industry.
Hunt Heating’s after sales service is very strong. If anything does go wrong with an Aqua Plus, we know where in good hands with people that will take an interest in fixing any issues.
We also find it helpful to look at the warranty of a unit, as a measure of the company’s faith in its product. Aqua Plus has one of these split warranties that we don’t really like. The warranty is ordinarily 6 years, with the first year warranty parts and labour but the remaining 5 years parts only. Solar Victoria recently announced that all products need a 5-year warranty on both parts and labour. Aqua Plus increases the warranty for Solar Victoria customers to meet the minimum labour requirements. We’d prefer to see a warranty that applies to all customers, but I guess it’s a good thing for Solar Victoria customers, you will receive the full warranty.
3. Refrigerant
Aqua Plus units use Propane (R290) as the refrigerant. Propane has a Global Warming Potential (GWP) of 3 and is one of the best on the market.
4. Maintenance
The maintenance requirements for Aqua Plus units are standard.
The Pressure and Temperature Relief (PTR) valve should be operated every six months (our instructions here).
The Owner’s Manual also stipulates that the sacrificial anode should be inspected “every couple of years” and at a minimum be replaced every 5 years.
Aqua Plus Review
Powrhouse is independent. Powrhouse recommends the Aqua Plus units purely as a result of our thorough research of the heat pump hot water market. The Aqua Plus units tick all the boxes – they are very well priced, they have a good reputation in the industry and are backed by a company that offers good support to customers.
If you are interested in a quote for a heat pump hot water unit, we’d love to hear from you.
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