Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I live in North Carolina and just had to replace my ancient electric heat pump system. Next up will be water heater replacement. There is no gas coming into the house and I do not want it. The electric company keeps nagging me that water heating is the single biggest area I could save on and their bulletin mentioned heat pump water heaters. These work on the same principle as a heat pump, with the cutover to the heat strips only happening when it is excessively cold.
Does anyone have one of these? I know they are more expensive than a conventional electric water heater, but since I have to replace my conventional one in the next couple of years, is it worth looking into this?
The electric company keeps nagging me that water heating is the single biggest area I could save on and their bulletin mentioned heat pump water heaters.
Where would the water heater be located? Inside the conditioned area of the house?
Hybrid/heat pump water heaters move heat out of the air and into the water, a net benefit if you're running air conditioning, not helpful in the winter. Some heat pump water heaters can accept a short length of ductwork so you can be selective about the input and/or output airflow.
Personally, I would pass. You might get about $25+- in savings per month, but you have not only the pricy unit, but installation costs, so your ROI is years down the road. Further, they are an additional source of noise, require about twice the time to recover from being drained of the stored water, and depend on lower stored water temperatures (120 F) instead of heating to 135 F as recommended by OSHA to kill Legionnaires disease.
A simple solar pre-heating, like a barrel in a box, could save enough money during summer months to blow the "savings" of a heat pump system out of the water. Remember also that since heat pumps MOVE heat, during the winter the room where your heater is will be chilled by the operation of it... causing your MAIN heat pump to work harder and possibly go into backup heat strip mode.
IMO, the idea is just plain dumb. If, OTOH, someone figured out how to run a water feed line to a window AC so that it would cool a room and heat water at the same time, I would consider that pretty neat.
I installed my first heat-pump water heater in a home in Phoenix in 2009. Electricity is and was really expensive there & the savings was closer to $50/mo vs a standard electric unit. I just recently installed another heat-pump water heater in the basement of my home in Michigan- no natural gas service there & propane is wildly variable in price (and electricity is equally expensive). Again, savings in the area of $40 /mo in electricity. The new heater I purchased was a rheem/Richmond unit, it came with a 12 year parts warranty & I was able to purchase a ten year extended labor warranty.
The first heat-pump water heater I installed was an “air tap” add-on unit, that just sat on top of a standard electric water heater & did all the work for it. The new unit is integrated & called a “hybrid “ unit, because you can choose to let it heat with standard resistance heat (at higher cost), or force it to do everything with just the heat pump. The old unit would only heat the water to 120-ish degrees, which was adequate for two people, the new one will go all the way to 150degrees, providing substantially more hot water if you have a bigger family or have someone in the house who likes 30 minute showers.
The cost wasn’t terribly bad compared to a standard electric unit, under $1k, including the long warranty- budget electric heaters often only have a six year warranty.
Payoff is just a couple of years worst case & not much risk from the added complexity of the unit because of the long warranty.
Fwiw, the rheem units do allow for ducting the cool dehumidified air, if you want it inside for “free” air conditioning, or outside if you’re trying to avoid cooling down a heated space.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I considered getting a hybrid electric heater, went with propane tankless instead
