diff --git a/public/app/plugins/panel/heatmap/heatmap_tooltip.ts b/public/app/plugins/panel/heatmap/heatmap_tooltip.ts
index c235b1e10b1..5f78565ad39 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/panel/heatmap/heatmap_tooltip.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/panel/heatmap/heatmap_tooltip.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import * as d3 from 'd3';
 import $ from 'jquery';
 import _ from 'lodash';
 import { getValueBucketBound } from './heatmap_data_converter';
-import { getValueFormat } from '@grafana/data';
+import { getValueFormat, formattedValueToString } from '@grafana/data';
 
 const TOOLTIP_PADDING_X = 30;
 const TOOLTIP_PADDING_Y = 5;
@@ -273,9 +273,9 @@ export class HeatmapTooltip {
   }
 
   countValueFormatter(decimals: number, scaledDecimals: any = null) {
-    const format = 'short';
+    const fmt = getValueFormat('short');
     return (value: number) => {
-      return getValueFormat(format)(value, decimals, scaledDecimals);
+      return formattedValueToString(fmt(value, decimals, scaledDecimals));
     };
   }
 }
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/panel/heatmap/rendering.ts b/public/app/plugins/panel/heatmap/rendering.ts
index 22dd0cfd811..efefa681a89 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/panel/heatmap/rendering.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/panel/heatmap/rendering.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,14 @@ import * as ticksUtils from 'app/core/utils/ticks';
 import { HeatmapTooltip } from './heatmap_tooltip';
 import { mergeZeroBuckets } from './heatmap_data_converter';
 import { getColorScale, getOpacityScale } from './color_scale';
-import { toUtc, PanelEvents, GrafanaThemeType, getColorFromHexRgbOrName, getValueFormat } from '@grafana/data';
+import {
+  toUtc,
+  PanelEvents,
+  GrafanaThemeType,
+  getColorFromHexRgbOrName,
+  getValueFormat,
+  formattedValueToString,
+} from '@grafana/data';
 import { CoreEvents } from 'app/types';
 
 const MIN_CARD_SIZE = 1,
@@ -441,11 +448,14 @@ export class HeatmapRenderer {
     const format = this.panel.yAxis.format;
     return (value: any) => {
       try {
-        return format !== 'none' ? getValueFormat(format)(value, decimals, scaledDecimals) : value;
+        if (format !== 'none') {
+          const v = getValueFormat(format)(value, decimals, scaledDecimals);
+          return formattedValueToString(v);
+        }
       } catch (err) {
         console.error(err.message || err);
-        return value;
       }
+      return value;
     };
   }