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Samsung Gen 7 heat pump: a designer's guide to the EHS Mono R290
The Samsung Gen 7 heat pump has been going on UK walls since the end of November 2023, so it has three heating seasons behind it rather than a press release. The useful question is no longer what the unit promises, but how to read the numbers Samsung publishes — and what has come back from the field.
- 8 min read
- Published 19 August 2026
AT A GLANCE
THE SAMSUNG GEN 7 AT A GLANCE “Gen 7” is UK market shorthand, not a Samsung model name — the unit is the EHS Mono R290, announced 23 November 2023. Four outputs (5, 8, 12, 16 kW) in two families: the standard Mono, outdoor unit only, and the Pump Integrated with hydraulics on board. Refrigerant is R290 at GWP 3, A3 flammable, charged 0.63 to 1.25 kg by capacity. Leaving water runs 15–75 °C, with 70 °C hot water without a booster heater, and ErP class is A+++ at 35 °C throughout. Heat Pump Keymark records SCOP at 35 °C of 5.10, 4.85, 4.90 and 4.70 under EN 14825 average climate — not to be confused with the COP 5.10 W/W Samsung’s GB pages advertise. Warranty is 24 months, extendable to 84 on conditions. MCS status could not be verified; check your exact model reference.
What "Gen 7" actually is
Samsung does not sell a product called the Gen 7. The phrase appears in the page title of Samsung’s GB website and nowhere in its body copy; the real names are EHS Mono R290 and EHS Mono R290 Pump, or “Mono Outdoor Pump Integrated (R290)”. The shorthand stuck, but it will not find you a Keymark certificate — so learn the model reference.
The convention is readable: AE***CXYD*K/EU is the standard Mono, AE***CXYB*K/EU the Pump Integrated, and the letter before the K gives phase — E single, G three. Hence AE050CXYDEK, AE080CXYDEK, AE120CXYDEK, AE160CXYDEK, with ClimateHub cylinders listed separately (AE200CNWMEG/EU, AE200RNWMEG/EU, AE260CNWMGG/EU).
And the badge is not the output. The “16 kW” unit is 15.5 kW on low temperature duty, 14.5 kW on medium; Prated across the range is 5.5, 8.0, 12.0 and 15.5 kW. Size to capacity at your design conditions, never to a nameplate — a heat loss calculation question, and it comes first.
The SCOP trap — the most misquoted number on this unit
Samsung’s GB pages publish COP 5.10 W/W. That is a COP: performance at one set of test conditions, at one instant. It is not a SCOP, which is calculated across a modelled year of varying outdoor temperatures and part loads — roughly the difference between a car’s peak power and its motorway fuel consumption.
Now the coincidence that makes it worse. The 5 kW unit’s Heat Pump Keymark SCOP at 35 °C is also 5.10 — two different quantities, from different methods, printing identically. That is exactly how a wrong figure propagates: someone sees 5.10 on a marketing page, 5.10 on a certificate, concludes the marketing figure is seasonal, then quotes “SCOP 5.10” for an 8, 12 or 16 kW unit that has no such number anywhere in its documentation.
Two legitimate SCOP datasets also exist, and they disagree — different schemes, not errors.
(a) ErP / Heat Pump Keymark — EN 14825, average climate
| Output | SCOP 35 °C | ηs 35 °C | SCOP 55 °C | ηs 55 °C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 kW | 5.10 | 201% | 3.60 | 141% |
| 8 kW | 4.85 | 191% | 3.55 | 139% |
| 12 kW | 4.90 | 193% | 3.65 | 143% |
| 16 kW | 4.70 | 185% | 3.55 | 139% |
(b) “MCS listed SCOPS” — from a Samsung-branded D-series datasheet (reported; no scheme or climate zone footnoted)
| Output | @35 °C | @45 °C | @55 °C | @65 °C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 kW | 4.84 | 4.14 | 3.42 | 2.93 |
| 8 kW | 4.66 | 4.04 | 3.41 | 2.89 |
| 12 kW | 4.73 | 4.12 | 3.51 | 2.84 |
| 16 kW | 4.57 | 4.00 | 3.43 | 2.81 |
The sets differ by roughly 0.15 to 0.26 at 35 °C — two reporting regimes answering slightly different questions. The rule: any SCOP quoted at you should carry its scheme, its climate zone and its flow temperature. Without those it is not a number you can design with, and that is one reason two quotes for the same house can look nothing like each other.
Flow temperature, hot water and the operating envelope
Leaving water for space heating runs 15–75 °C, with 75 °C achievable between outdoor temperatures of −10 and 35 °C. Hot water reaches 70 °C without a booster heater, between −10 and 43 °C outdoors.
Note the DHW figure. Samsung’s consumer marketing says “up to 75 °C DHW”; the newsroom announcement and the specification tables say 70 °C hot water, 75 °C space heating. Where a manufacturer’s own documents disagree, take the engineering one — use 70 °C. And capability is not a design target: a 75 °C ceiling is headroom on a legacy circuit, not somewhere to run. Every degree designed out is seasonal efficiency kept, which is why our radiator output calculator exists.
The operating envelope is a masterclass in spec-sheet reading. The tables give heating from −25 to 35 °C, DHW from −25 to 43 °C, cooling from 10 to 46 °C. The marketing says heating from −10 to 35 °C. Both are true: −25 °C is the absolute operating limit, while −10 °C is the limit for the claimed 75 °C flow and “100% heating performance”. Below −10 °C the machine keeps running; it stops meeting the headline claim. Wide envelope for operation, narrow one for the claim — a pattern on almost every spec sheet you will read.
Sound — a marketing number is not a planning input
Sound power is 55, 59, 60 and 65 dB(A) for the 5, 8, 12 and 16 kW units. Sound pressure is 41 dB(A) for the 5 kW at nominal duty, and “as low as 35 dB(A)” with the four-step Quiet Mode engaged.
That 35 dB(A) figure travels well, and it should not. Samsung’s stated condition, verbatim: “The noise level is measured 3m away from the front of the outdoor unit, in an anechoic room with an outside temperature of 7°C.” Three metres, and a room built to absorb sound. The MCS 020 permitted development assessment works from a 1 m free-field basis, against a real boundary wall and a real neighbour’s window. A quiet-mode marketing figure is not an MCS 020 input.
Mono, Pump Integrated or ClimateHub — and the warranty small print
The EHS Mono R290 (CXYD) is the outdoor unit alone: it needs an external pump, expansion vessel and control kit (MIM-E03EN). The Pump Integrated (CXYB) has pump and expansion tank on board plus control and WiFi kits — convenient, but larger and roughly 27 kg heavier, which matters on a tight side passage. ClimateHub is the separate indoor DHW and buffer unit, 200 or 260 litres, paired with either. Keymark certifies outdoor unit and cylinder together as packages, so check the certificate covers your combination.
Warranty is 24 months as standard, extendable to 84 — but the conditions carry it: the form registered with Samsung, the request emailed within 30 days of commissioning, an annual maintenance agreement in place for the full term, and commissioning by Samsung-certified engineers. Samsung GB: “Your Samsung heat pump will need an annual service to check it is running smoothly and help keep your warranty valid.” Seven years of cover is seven years of paid servicing and a form submitted inside a month.
On MCS: a Samsung-branded datasheet carries a table headed “MCS listed SCOPS”, implying a listing exists, but we found no directory entry or certificate number. We will not state certification we could not verify — check the MCS Product Directory for your exact model reference, as we do across the range, including our Samsung EHS Quint coverage.
The field record, handled fairly
The substantive criticism is controls. Glyn Hudson of OpenEnergyMonitor puts it directly: “Samsung controller and software algorithms are not nearly as good as Vaillant. Samsung systems can work well, but almost never do out of the box.” The gap is the lack of load compensation — modulating flow temperature against outdoor conditions rather than cycling around a fixed setpoint. Third-party controllers such as Homely are commonly retrofitted.
Two further reports are worth knowing. Henry Pelly observes that “performance drops significantly in the 1-3C band with a defrost sometimes every 45 minutes”. And the DHW logic is reported to draw energy from the hot water tank for hourly frost-prevention cycles in cold weather — not what an owner expects to see on their cylinder.
One much-repeated figure deserves defending rather than criticising: the roughly 200 W standby draw below freezing is the base-tray resistive heater preventing condensate icing. Designed behaviour, not a fault.
Two caveats need stating plainly. Renewable Heating Hub’s 8 April 2024 piece on Samsung’s post-installation accountability relative to Daikin and Grant does not name the Gen 7 R290, so we will not stretch it to cover a model it never mentions. And everything above comes from individual installations reported by their owners, not controlled testing. Real signals that should shape your questions — not a verdict.
SAMSUNG EHS MONO R290 — PUBLISHED SPECIFICATION
| 5 kW | 8 kW | 12 kW | 16 kW | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Mono ref. (1-ph) | AE050CXYDEK | AE080CXYDEK | AE120CXYDEK | AE160CXYDEK |
| Prated | 5.5 kW | 8.0 kW | 12.0 kW | 15.5 kW |
| R290 charge | 0.63 kg | 0.87 kg | 1.25 kg | 1.25 kg |
| SCOP 35 °C (Keymark, EN 14825 avg.) | 5.10 | 4.85 | 4.90 | 4.70 |
| ηs 35 °C | 201% | 191% | 193% | 185% |
| SCOP 55 °C (Keymark, EN 14825 avg.) | 3.60 | 3.55 | 3.65 | 3.55 |
| ηs 55 °C | 141% | 139% | 143% | 139% |
| ErP class 35 / 55 °C | A+++ / A++ | A+++ / A++ | A+++ / A++ | A+++ / A++ |
| Sound power | 55 dB(A) | 59 dB(A) | 60 dB(A) | 65 dB(A) |
| Mono dimensions (W×H×D) | 998 × 850 × 500 mm | 998 × 850 × 500 mm | 1270 × 1018 × 530 mm | 1270 × 1018 × 530 mm |
| Mono weight | 86 kg | 98 kg | 140 kg | 140 kg |
| Pump Integrated weight | 113 kg | 125 kg | 154 kg | 154 kg |
| Heating LWT | 15–75 °C | 15–75 °C | 15–75 °C | 15–75 °C |
| DHW (no booster) | 70 °C | 70 °C | 70 °C | 70 °C |
DESIGNER'S INSIGHT
“The 5.10 coincidence is the best teaching example I have: Samsung advertises a COP of 5.10, the 5 kW’s Keymark SCOP at 35 °C is also 5.10, and a number meaning one thing quietly becomes a number meaning something else on its way into a quotation. My rule is that a performance figure without its scheme, its climate zone and its flow temperature attached is not data, it is decoration. My reservation here isn’t the hardware, it’s the controls — a unit that won’t load-compensate out of the box is one whose seasonal efficiency depends entirely on whoever commissions it, and that’s a risk I want priced before anyone digs a trench.”
Phil
Founder & Lead Designer, Heat Loss Hub
A designer's honest take
Heat Loss Hub is independent. We hold no Samsung account, take no manufacturer incentives, do not install and earn no commission — so read this as engineering commentary, not endorsement or attack.
The verdict is genuinely mixed, and it should be. On hardware the EHS Mono R290 is strong: R290 at GWP 3, A+++ at 35 °C across the range, 70 °C hot water without a booster, Keymark SCOPs that stand comparison with anything in the class. The reservation is the control layer, and it is not small. When the best-informed independent monitoring community in the country says a machine “can work well, but almost never does out of the box”, that is a commissioning risk sitting between the certificate and your meter reading. It is solvable — but solve it on purpose, with the cost visible, not in year two.
What decides the specification is your fabric, your emitters and your design flow temperature, run against labelled data at your conditions. When a Samsung unit wins a place on one of our drawings it will be because those tables read best for that house — and when they don’t, something else goes on the drawing. If you would like that done properly, start your design journey with us.
SOURCES
- Samsung Climate Solutions GB — Mono R290 range
- Samsung Climate Solutions GB — product and specification page
- Samsung Newsroom UK — EHS Mono R290 announcement, 23 November 2023
- Heat Pump Keymark certificate database
- OpenEnergyMonitor community thread — real-world data, Samsung Gen 7 R290
- Renewable Heating Hub — manufacturer accountability, 8 April 2024
- MCS Product Directory
CONTENTS
- What "Gen 7" actually is
- The SCOP trap — the most misquoted number on this unit
- Flow temperature, hot water and the operating envelope
- Sound — a marketing number is not a planning input
- Mono, Pump Integrated or ClimateHub — and the warranty small print
- The field record, handled fairly
- A designer's honest take
BRAND-NEUTRAL, ALWAYS
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