Just as it says, my old electric water heater has got to be on its last leg and I want to explore a possible cheaper/better alternative to heating my water. Ive read some on a heat pump water heater and it looks like it may be a small savings over electric. Does anyone have one? Thanks!
I do not but am looking into them also, have a friend HVAC guy coming tomorrow to go over it with me. Will post results. He is "pushing" the tankless system. I am considering one tankless for the kitchen, only because it is a ranch and the kitchen and bathrooms are on opposite ends so one takes along time to get hot water. Still want a tank for the bathroom.
I have one for a few years now. This topic comes up once in awhile Hybrid AKA heat pump water heater Hot water cost
Awesome thread! Just what I was looking for. I noticed that you said your power bill actually went up?
There's a few good threads on the subject here. I have a Geospring now for five years, electric use is about half of conventional electric and my power company gives a $500 credit to you if you buy one. Hot water cost
Yes duke energy will do $350 but it has to be installed by a certified installer and the nearest one is 39 miles from me.
If your situation/house allows for a heat pump electric hot water tank that replaces an electric resistant hot water tank and you have a family of four you will save somewhere around $300.00 a year in electricity. I installed my own, but with the significant savings involved, I would run the math to see your savings long term. There are some negatives as discussed with the attached threads, but if your space allows, there is no cheaper option for electric hot water.
I’ve had a Geospring for 4 years or so. Best I can tell it knocks about $15-20 off my electric bill (just three of us in the house), maybe a bit more in the summer as the dehumidifier doesn’t run as much. I run it in hybrid mode most all year and heat pump only in the summer. When we get these nasty cold snaps like we have now I switch it to electric only - I’d rather keep the heat in the basement when it’s really cold out.
I had a tankless water heater 2 houses ago, and thought it was great. I spent the extra $350 and had the circulating pump put in, so it was instant hot water at all the taps, even the far end of the house. You can put the same type of pump on a tank heater, too so you have hot water where you want it. The negative on the tankless was at the 2 year mark it cost $125 to replace the screen where corrosion/sediment collected. Depending on where you live, the heat pump hybrid water heater may not be the best. In extended-cold climates you're sucking the the little bit of warm air out of your basement. If you've got a wood stove down there, then don't worry about it. In temperate climates, they're awesome.
I have a Geospring, and it's been great for me. Not sure about energy savings because I went from previously had a propane water heater. My pellet furnace is 10 feet away, so plenty of spare heat in the winter, and I appreciate the dehumidifying in the summer. Go for it! I have the temp at 135, and typically run it in heat pump mode only. For the average morning when it's just the wife and me taking showers it works very well. If the kids are taking baths, and the dishwasher is running, and the washing machine is running, AND we want to shower, I switch it to high demand mode. We rarely run out of hot water, but I do have to keep the usage in mind and switch modes occasionally.
From what I've heard about tankless, people love them when new...hate them after a year or two old...when the maintenance suck starts
Exact same report here except we switched from an old resistance tank shortly after purchasing the house. With a wife and 4 kids hot water usage is pretty high, I use it as a limiter on length of showers and encourage Mrs to not run hot water on high continuously while pre-rinsing the dishes So can’t really comment on electric usage. Had the fan motor go out after ~2 years called the manufacturer they sent me a new one (no charge) installed it my self and works even better than new.
Could not really tell as we made a lot of other changes at that time. If I recall our electric bill stayed the same despite the start of summer time and running the A/C.
