PANASONIC AND SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC PARTNER TO EXPEDIATE THE FUTURE OF HEATING

With consumer demand for heat pumps at an all-time high, Panasonic has partnered with Drayton by Schneider Electric to offer its Wiser room-by-room heating control system. Seamlessly integrating with Panasonic Aquarea Air Source Heat Pumps and the Aquarea Smart Cloud and Service Cloud apps, the Wiser system provides an additional element of energy control and simple home automation.

This new partnership will allow installers of Panasonic’s Aquarea air source heat pumps to offer their customers room-by-room heating control by fitting Wiser with the Aquarea system. The combination of smart controls will help make homes as energy efficient as possible by bringing different electrical devices under the control of one app, helping homeowners to lower their bills and reduce their carbon footprint.

Wiser can be set up in the usual way with the Panasonic Aquarea heat pump, enabling installers to easily create multi-zone systems, where heating is easily remotely controlled room-by-room. Customers will be able to monitor and easily adjust the heating in each room and via any web-enabled device, including Android and iOS applications and Internet browsers. The app will enable users to eliminate unnecessary heating thanks to Wiser’s smart modes. For example, activating Away Mode when a property is unoccupied helps to reduce energy consumption.

Remi Volpe, Managing Director at Drayton, said: “In order for a Net Zero home to be achieved, different technologies are going to be required to work together to optimise their performance. This is particularly important when it comes to the heating system and this new partnership with Panasonic is one that will enable us to develop Wiser into a full home-automation solution. Phase 1 sees the integration of Wiser with Panasonic’s low carbon Aquarea heat pump, and future phases will see the capabilities of the Wiser Home app expanded to include other Panasonic devices, such as lighting and electrical appliances.”

Richard Bishop, Head of Marketing for UK and Ireland at Panasonic, added: “Here at Panasonic, we place great importance on forging ethical partnerships that align with our core values. This is why we are incredibly excited to be working with Schneider Electric; another manufacturer that is driving change when it comes to low carbon living. This integration will further provide homeowners more control over each room in their homes, as well as additional access to detailed insights, which will enable them to make more informed decisions, at a time when keeping energy usage under control is more important than ever.”

When installed together, heating engineers can easily select Panasonic as a ‘Partner Connection’ within the Wiser Home app, unlocking new Insight capabilities, available exclusively to Panasonic Aquarea heat pump users. Within the dedicated Insights page, homeowners will be able to see the temperatures in each room or individual zone.

Users will benefit from all the features of the Panasonic Smart Cloud App, such as scheduling and access to a detailed breakdown of the system’s energy consumption from 60 minutes to 7 days and ability to schedule the settings to ensure a constant and comfortable temperature throughout. This can help end users compare space utilisation and adjust the system so that energy is not wasted.

For more information on Wiser, visit wiser.draytoncontrols.co.uk, and for more information on Panasonic’s Aquarea heat pump, visit aircon.panasonic.eu.