Review: Hitachi Air Source Heat Pumps

In Summary: Our Hitachi Heat Pump Review

Hitachi is a mid-tier air source heat pump (ASHP) brand competing with the likes of Ideal Heating, Grant, Worcester Bosch, Daikin, Samsung and Nibe, but offers a shorter warranty (5-years). 

Thanks to the government's Boiler Upgrade Scheme, most households can benefit from a £7,500 grant to be used towards their air source heat pump. This correlates to a net cost of around £3,100 for a 4.3kW Hitachi Yutaki unit, comparable to the leading brands mentioned above. 

Whilst online reviews are sub-par (1.2/5 stars), efficiency ratings are high. Model dependent (outputs from 4kW-24kW are on offer), Hitachi heat pumps can work at up to 500% efficiency and their estimated lifespan is in the region of 10-15 years. 

Hitachi faces tough competition in the UK. Whilst they come in slightly cheaper than leading brands, the likes of the Ideal Logic Air and Vaillant aroTHERM offer much better value for money thanks to their longer warranty. 

‍Check out the most suitable heat pump for your property by using our easy-to-use heat pump tool here. 

Review: Hitachi Air Source Heat Pumps

Like the sound of Hitachi and want to read more? Below we review the Hitachi product range covering the likes of: costs, online reviews, efficiency ratings, warranty and more…

How Much Does a Hitachi Heat Pump Cost?

Heat Pump Only

Hitachi air source heat pumps are reasonably priced, sitting in the mid-range when compared to the likes of:

• Grant
• Worcester Bosch
• Daikin
• Samsung
• Ideal Logic Air
• Nibe

Expect the cost of a Hitachi Yutaki M R32 4.3kW Monobloc to be in the region of £3,100 including VAT (this price doesn’t include installation costs).

Whilst underpowered in comparison to a unit such as the Vaillant aroTHERM Plus 5kW, it is slightly cheaper, with the aroTHERM coming in at around £3,600 including VAT from online plumbing and heating merchants. 

Installation Cost

So, what should you expect the overall installation cost to be?

Most UK households qualify for the government’s Boiler Upgrade Scheme. If you qualify (check eligibility here), you’ll be eligible for £7,500 towards your heat pump installation.

Put simply, if you own your property, haven’t used the Boiler Upgrade Scheme before and have your system fitted by a Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) installer, it’s highly likely you’ll qualify!

A Vaillant aroTHERM 5kW is likely to cost in the region of £4,100-£4,500. With the Hitachi R32 4.3kW being around £500 cheaper, expect your net cost (after your £7,500 grant) to be in the region of £3,600-£4,000. 

Again, it’s worth mentioning that the Hitachi unit is slightly underpowered in comparison to the Vaillant 5kW, so you’ll need to check if it's powerful enough for your electricity needs. 

To determine which is the best brand, model and size heat pump, read our detailed heat pump review guide here. 

Or, to get prices on the best ASHP for your property within a couple of minutes, use our clickable heat pump quotation tool here. 

Is Hitachi A Good ASHP Brand?

Whilst Hitachi is considered a good brand, it's not the most popular in the UK. And that's partly due to the fact that their warranty isn't exactly long. 

The best ASHP brands tend to offer a warranty in the region of 7-years. The Hitachi Yutaki M R32 4.3kW Monobloc mentioned above? Just 5.

And, this makes a huge difference. Heat pumps are expensive, so you want the manufacturer covering the cost of repairs for as long as possible.

Hitachi Reviews Online

When investing this kind of money, it’s worth investigating online reviews. 

Unfortunately for Hitachi, we don’t feel their online reviews truly represent the quality they offer. They are rated just 1.2 of 5 stars on TrustPilot, with just over 200 reviews. 

Compare that to any brand on our list in our heat pump reviews page, and you’ll see this is well below par. 

In fact, we can use Vaillant as an example. 

Not only does Vaillant have much better customer reviews (4.5/5 stars), it also has much higher volume, with over 22,000 on Truspilot so far. 

We fit heat pumps from leading brands that consistently get good reviews from both industry media and customers, including the likes of Vaillant, Ideal, Worcester, Daikin and Grant.

Efficiency Ratings

Like most air source heat pumps, the Hitachi range is incredibly efficient. 

Expect A+++ rated efficiency for central heating, thanks to a Coefficient of Performance (CoP) of up to 5 (model dependant). Effectively this means a Hitachi Yutaki heat pump is up to 500% efficient. 

But how is this even possible?

Top quality heat pumps tend to have CoP of 4 or higher. Across a whole heating season, their average efficiency is going to be above 400%. For every 1kWh of electricity they consume, they're able to generate up to 4kWh-5kWh of heat. 

And it's the mechanics of a heat pump that allow this to happen. Air is drawn in via a fan. This slightly increases the temperature of refrigerant (R32 in the case of many Yutaki models) in the unit. 

It then passes through a compressor, which is where the real heat gain comes from. This heat is absorbed via the heating system and the whole process starts again. 

Compared to leading brands, Hitachi's efficiency ratings are high. Their units are comparable to the likes of the Vaillant R290 (review here) which is able to generate up to 503% efficiency, or, 5.03 COP.

Warranty

The standard warranty for the Hitachi range is slightly below par at 5-years. Leading brands we've mentioned above (Ideal, Vaillant, Grant, Worcester Bosch and Daikin), generally offer a slightly longer warranty of 7 years or higher. 

The 5-year warranty applies to the majority of their range including: 

• Yutaki-M
• Yutaki-S
• Yutaki-S Combi
• Yutaki-S80

However, there are options to increase your warranty directly with Hitachi on some units. To grab this warranty, you'll need to use one of their certified installers. 

Essentially, if you choose a Hitachi air source heat pump after reading this review, make sure you use a Hitachi certified installer. If you don’t, you'll lose out on 2-years worth of extra warranty, so you'd be better off buying one of the other leading brands we've mentioned above.

Lifespan

The lifespan of an air source heat pump (regardless of the brand), will vary from property to property. Maintenance is one factor that can affect how long your Hitachi heat pump lasts. However, even more crucial is how hard you push your heat pump. 

A heat pump that's undersized is going to have to work much harder than one that's spec'd correctly. And that's going to lead to it having a much shorter lifespan than is typical. 

As a rule of thumb, most manufacturers suggest a lifespan of 10-15 years for their units, with some more optimistic guestimates in the 20-25 year range. 

To ensure you have a unit installed that can meet your electricity demands with ease, read our: 

• Guide to what size heat pump you need here
• Use our clickable heat pump quote tool here

Product Range

(Source: Hitachi)

Yutaki-M

The Yutaki-M is the most popular pump in the Hitachi range. A monobloc single outdoor unit with a compact design. 

With outputs available from 4kW-16kW, there's a Yutaki-M unit suitable for most small-large residential properties. 

CoP ratings are up to 5.25, meaning up to 525% efficiency and it can operate in temperatures as low as –25 °C!

Yutaki-S

This is a split system, using an indoor and outdoor unit.

Outputs on offer aren't as broad as the Yutaki-M. They have 4kW-24kW units available, meaning this is suited to small-medium sized properties. 

Yutaki-S Combi

Air source heat pumps aren’t exactly small and not all properties have the space to accommodate one. The Yutaki-S Combi has small space installations in mind, with an integrated hot water tank meaning a huge space saving (up to 70% according to Hitachi).

Yutaki-S80

The Yutaki-S80 is for those looking for boiler-like performance. Whilst the majority of air source heat pumps are only able to provide 55-60°C of flow temperature, the S80 can be modulated from 30-80°C. 

What Size Hitachi Heat Pump Do You Need?

There are plenty of options in the Hitachi Yutaki range from 4kW-24kW. These outputs cover basically every residential property from small-large. However, commercial properties may need something slightly larger. 

There isn’t a one size fits all solution for heat pumps, as household hot water and heating demand varies dramatically. Alongside this, your household’s insulation quality and the size of your radiators have a huge bearing on what size heat pump you’ll need.

However, for the average 3-bedroom semi-detached property, expect a 7kW-10kW unit to suffice. 

For more information regarding what size heat pump you need, check out our guide covering heat pump sizing here. 

Or, speak to one of our heat pump experts here.