80 gallon water tanks now have integrated heat pumps

[bsheffer]

Again, I must have been asleep at the switch.....I need to replace an 80 gallon water heater. Talking to one guy at Home Depot, anything bigger than 50 gallon for residential now has an integrated heat pump to supplement the heating process. Looking at the posted  electric consumption numbers, it looks like the yearly electric consumption is about a third when even comparing it to a typical 50 gallon unit. The downside is that the unit has to have a 18 inch space buffer around it and you need a condensate line. 

The other issue that I was thinking about is now I have a compressor mounted on top of my water heater, putting what has to be some amount of heat into the room which isn't a big deal in the winter but certainly not desirable in the summer.

Anyone else have to figure this one out.

[EricU]

I bought one and  had to return it.  Manufacturing defect that they knew about but just waited for the customer to find after purchase.  Getting that thing down into the basement and then back up was horrible. Top heavy and weighed quite a bit. Not saying this is always going to be the case, but I certainly am going to hesitate buying a GE after that experience. 

Read the reviews on the model you are interested in.

As an engineer, I find the concept to be somewhat questionable.  You are taking heat out of your house and putting it into the water.  If the household heat is coming from a heat pump, then it's only a little inefficient.  If it's coming from electric heat, then you are wasting energy with a heat pump on the water heater. OTOH, if you use a dehumidifier in your basement, it should help with that.

[cams2705]

Again, I must have been asleep at the switch.....I need to replace an 80 gallon water heater. Talking to one guy at Home Depot, anything bigger than 50 gallon for residential now has an integrated heat pump to supplement the heating process. Looking at the posted  electric consumption numbers, it looks like the yearly electric consumption is about a third when even comparing it to a typical 50 gallon unit. The downside is that the unit has to have a 18 inch space buffer around it and you need a condensate line. 

The other issue that I was thinking about is now I have a compressor mounted on top of my water heater, putting what has to be some amount of heat into the room which isn't a big deal in the winter but certainly not desirable in the summer.

Anyone else have to figure this one out.

My thought is it works the opposite as it is pulling available heat out of the surrounding room to heat your water.  My thought is it may improve the electric consumption of a conventional electric hot water heater, but would it actually cause you house heater to work harder to replace the heat it is pulling?

[Roly]

My thought is it works the opposite as it is pulling available heat out of the surrounding room to heat your water.  My thought is it may improve the electric consumption of a conventional electric hot water heater, but would it actually cause you house heater to work harder to replace the heat it is pulling?

It seems as though you can buy two 40 gallon heaters quite a bit cheaper than the hybrid unit.   Don't know about the operating costs when the hybrid is located in a conditioned space.   In the summer it would help cool it but in the winter it would also.  Also consider the recovery rate if you are located where the incoming water temperature can get quite cold. When the electric heating elements come on to maintain the temperature you blow a lot of savings. Roly

[fixtureman]

check with your electric company mine sells then and gives you and energy usage break

[Foggy]

Put two 40 gallon in series. Second one only operates when first can't keep up with demand.

[Mr_Mike]

Again, I must have been asleep at the switch.....I need to replace an 80 gallon water heater. Talking to one guy at Home Depot, anything bigger than 50 gallon for residential now has an integrated heat pump to supplement the heating process. Looking at the posted  electric consumption numbers, it looks like the yearly electric consumption is about a third when even comparing it to a typical 50 gallon unit. The downside is that the unit has to have a 18 inch space buffer around it and you need a condensate line. 

The other issue that I was thinking about is now I have a compressor mounted on top of my water heater, putting what has to be some amount of heat into the room which isn't a big deal in the winter but certainly not desirable in the summer.

Anyone else have to figure this one out.

Might be true where you live, but not universally true. I can still get conventional 80 gallon heaters. Would I install a heat pump water heater? Sure. My heater is in the garage, can't hurt getting a little cooling in the garage in the summer. Not sure about winter though. In fact, I have two 40 gallon, on on each end of the house. The plan is to change that to a single 80. I might go gas though if I can get service up to the house.

[bennybmn]

If it has a heat pump, the net change to the room it's in will be cooler temps. My utility room is always warm, even in the winter. But I doubt I can get the 18" space needed...

[crokett™]

I helped a friend install one with a heat pump unit on it last summer. it had issues right out of the box. the heat pump piece wouldn't kick on so to give him hot water at about 6:30 on a saturday night we switched it to conventional (all electric) mode. he ended up having to replace one of the boards to get it working.

I wasn't impressed.

[EricU]

crockett, was that a GE? Seriously unimpressed with them after my experience.  I thought about buying a Rheem, but I had enough.  Although the next one will probably be a heat pump, unless we move.  Ours is "energy saving" in that it will turn down the temp on a timer.  I should probably figure out how to make that work.