Hybrid Water Heater

[measure once cut remeasure]

The pipe coming out of the bottom of my electric hot water heater partially broke off creating a very wet basement.  Luckily there is a garage door in the basement that mitigated the water depth.

I've reconnected an indirect Amtrol water heater to my boiler for domestic hot water.  When I built the house, heating oil was about a buck a gallon, and I didn't mind burning half a tank of oil over the summer to have hot water.  Even before the cost of heating oil hit $ 4 a gallon, I installed the electric water heater, and switched off the Amtrol.

I considered tank less, until I found out that it would require a 70 amp breaker.  I was concerned with the amount of electricity coming into the house when the tank less water heater could be running at the same time as the 1 hp well pump, electric stove, and the power hungry workshop machinery.  

Natural gas isn't an option, and I'm not having propane installed just for domestic hot water.

Can anyone provide some insight into hybrid electric water heaters ?

[Robert Adams]

By hybrid do you mean heatpump? They work fairly well and revert to regular elements during high demand if set that way. Nice thing is they reduce humidity and temperature in the garage while they run.

[blackhat]

They're viable when there's a surplus of heat in the space. Otherwise you are paying to provide heat or using a real expensive electric heater.

[measure once cut remeasure]

The hybrid water heater is a small heat pump mounted on top of a conventional looking electric water heater. It would be located in the basement which is consistently 65-70 degrees year round. In the summer I'm running a dehumidifier in the basement, which not only reduces the dampness of the basement but provides a little bit of heat. It is actually warmest in the winter when the piping to and from the boiler helps warm the area.

[Cub_Cadet_GT]

I looked at them last fall when I had to replace mine. I decided the extra expense and potential maintenance expense would probably negate  any savings I would see from it. I bought a nice Rheem with a digital display that I can easily set into vacation mode and change the temp easy.