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 Hybrid/Heat Pump Water Heaters 
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Location: East Olympia
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Anyone have one of these installed? I saw one at Lowes today. Quite a bit more expensive than an all-electric unit but with the potential to pay for itself over its warrantied life span in energy savings. My biggest concerns are noise and the amount of space it needs to draw air from. My current water heater is in a small closet in a bathroom, with a fully louvered door. Would the same location support a heat-pump unit?


Sat Oct 21, 2017 6:43 pm
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So, having done a bit more research on this over the past 24 hours, here's some of the answers, just in case anyone else is curious:

1. They seem to run around twice as much as their conventional counterparts (gas or electric). GE no longer makes them. The 80 gallon A.O. Smith unit I am looking at is around $1,800. HOWEVER, PSE offers an $800 rebate on it, and I get the 10% military discount at Lowes, which pretty much equalizes the cost.

2. They will run in several modes: heat-pump pure (most efficient), hybrid, all-electric or standby/vacation. In heat-pump pure mode, they are 50% - 75% more efficient than an all-electric unit.

3. The documents that came with GE units said you could install them in a closet as long as the door was louvered to allow sufficient air-flow.

4. They require some way of disposing of the compressor condensate. Lots of people just collect it in a container to be emptied every so often. Other people tie it into a drain line so they don't have to worry about it.

5. They generate cool air, so the space they are installed in may experience a slight drop in temperature. They also make noise when the compressor is running. I've never heard one running, but several people described it as similar to the noise of a fridge or mini-split unit running.

After all my reading, I'm sold on the idea. Many of the reports I read indicate savings upwards of $400/year in electric costs. After the discount and PSE rebate, the unit would pay for itself in just two years and still have 8 years of warrantied life to produce savings for me. I'll let you all know how it goes.


Sun Oct 22, 2017 6:38 pm
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