Installed a water heater today
Installed a water heater today
Been on my list of things that are urgent for like 4 years. Finally had the money to do it today.
Thank you, thank you
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I’d really like to get a heat-pump water heater but my current one is a lowboy, so I’d either need to excavate clay from underneath it or move the lines/power supply. The only lowboy heat-pump water heaters are incredibly expensive.
Heat pump water heaters are VERY pricey up front with [hopefully] a good long term ROI. I'm still trying to decide between one of those or a tankless unit.
The other drawbacks to heat pump style is that they require a lot more ventilation and they cool the air around them (which is great in the summer, but could be a nightmare in the winter). I think maybe they also dry the air too, which again could be nice in the summer and rough in the winter.
If that all works for your situation, go for it, but I'd hate for you to spend that money upfront for something that didn't suit your needs.
The other drawbacks to heat pump style is that they require a lot more ventilation and they cool the air around them (which is great in the summer, but could be a nightmare in the winter). I think maybe they also dry the air too, which again could be nice in the summer and rough in the winter.
Besides a fairly new tangential generation of 120v Heat Pump Water Heaters, all the other 240v can act like a traditional electric hot water heater using just its built in resistive elements. So in the very cold winter time when there is no heat to efficiently capture of of the air, you just switch it "Electric Only" mode and it operations no different that a regular electric water heater. It doesn't engage the heat pump at all in this mode. Another neat trick is that you can set it to a different mode called "High Demand". This is where you might have extra families staying with you during holidays and you're going through much more hot water than normal. In this mode the unit uses both the heat pump and the electric elements to produce as much hot water as fast as possible. In this mode the heater creates more hot water than even a gas or traditional electric can.
Only the 120v versions can't do either of theseas they typically don't have electric elements.
Holy crap, that's brilliant. I was not aware of that development.
I'm in a townhouse though, so the footprint it needs is more than I'm willing to spare, but most single family homes could probably take advantage of that!
But the pump is on the outside of the house so that doesn't really matter.
I’m still trying to decide between one of those or a tankless unit.
I'm easily on team "heat pump water heater", not only for the energy efficiency but for the low maintenance. Before you go tankless, research how often you have to flush it or descale it. In some areas its every 12-18 months. Thats way more interaction than I would like with my water heater.
Yeah but literally nobody does the cleaning the tank thing and it's usually fine.
This isn't the same thing with tankless.
It might be cheaper to get solar power instead, and use the excess with a traditional water heater, but will be location specific.
I actually have solar. The entirety of my south-facing roof is covered, but it's only 7.6 kW clipped to 5.6 kW by the microinverters. It's about 70% of my usage right now. I'm trying to get to 100% through efficiency upgrades.
I put a heat pump water heater in like 2 months ago in my basement, which is like 6'2"/188cm and I had to squeeze it between floor joists, plumbing it was fun...