I have had one for about 8 years now and it has been fine so far. Was a decent drop in my electrical bill when I did the install. I run it in heat pump mode in the summer and switch to hybrid in the winter time. I believe it is a rheem model, it was about $1k. I would buy another one.

 

I got one for my place on the coast about 7 years ago, same sort of deal for really cheap from the electric coop. I have it set up to vent hot air from the attic for the heat pump intake. Basically free hot water in the summer.

 

I've had a Rheem heat pump water heater for 5 years. Been reliable. About 25-30% the cost for electricity each month (vs. a regular resistance electric water heater) so has been big savings over those 5 years: I average 50 kWh per month in 'economy' mode (roughly $7.50), was around $30/month with the old resistance electric water heater. So saving me roughly $250/year. Cost around $850 when I bought it so I am money ahead after 5 years.

I like the WiFi control too: let's me track energy usage and turn off the water heater when we are out of town, turn it back on while we are on the road to the house. So that has also saved us more money...

 

One thing to keep in mind is if the WH is located in an interior part of the home the noise can be bothersome; that's probably the #1 complaint I have gotten from homeowners.

 

Thanks, great point.
Is the condenser inside the house? Seems like it's just taking energy from the interior air which then you have to reheat with the heating system. I'm missing something. I can see it being in the attic like Beaver Chew mentioned, is that the normal setup? This would make a great energy balance question in an engineering exam.

I've heard they don't reheat as fast, do you recommend upsizing over a regular size to make up for it? It's only my wife and I and we have a wh in each bathroom, planning same set up so it might not be an issue.

Another difference is that I can keep a couple of heating elements around and repair a std wh in an hour, not so much with a heat pump. I'm still not convinced it's right for us.

I wonder whether a passive solar water heater would do just as well over a year, no moving parts. They save about 50% of hot water costs. I imagine the lifespan is better if you spend more. I've wondered why the coops don't include them.

I'm still listening, appreciate the comments.

 

Do sheetrock clips help any if its in its own space?

 

oops, duplicate

 

I put in a Rheem hybrid 10 or so years ago and would 100% do it again if/when this one needs replacing.

Mine sits in a spare back bedroom next to the master bedroom and while you can hear it when it is in heating mode, it isn't something that would keep me awake.
Ultra light sleepers may not like it.

I made an attachment for my exhaust fan that directs the cold air down through my crawlspace hatch (which is in the same closet).
I pipe the cold air down in winter and remove the duct in the summer to get some A/C cooling out of it.

Noticeably reduced electric bill and had a tax write off at that time.

 

The "compressor" will make the room it is in non liivable from putting out sooo much cold air. We turned. the compressor off. Heat pump water heater to us was a total waste of money. Been installed about 9 yrs now.

 

Thanks, that's what I was getting at. Where does the energy for heating the water come from? In the house. Must make sense somehow but it seems like NASA engineers were called to design a water heater.

I'm just going to move the existing one that came out before the demo into the new utility room. In our case the heat pump sounds like a solution looking for a problem.

 

Do they have a resistance backup? My water heater is in a garage that is typically 45-50 deg in the winter. Not the most efficient environment for a heat pump.

 

There are "cold weather models" that will operate as low as 5 degrees F but the efficiency may be reduced. Those that are called hybrid switch to electric resistance at about 37 degrees. But, consider that the heat pump models are going to "cool" any location where they are put so while a garage may normally stay at 45 degrees in the winter the heat pump will cool it off even more thereby defeating it's own purpose.

I have a geothermal heating system (pipes in the ground) for the house and it also has a set up to pre-heat the water going to my water heater in a 50 gallon water tank (a hot water heater not connected to power) before it goes to the regular hot water tank for final heating. The con on this is that it only preheats when the heating or cooling system is operating to heat or cool the house.

 

To cut water heater cost i installed a timer . It shuts down at 9 am back on 4 pm, off at 8 pm, back on at 5 am. It reduced my power bill almost $20 a month. We have hot water all the time unless two people shower in the middle of the day. Also my tank is in the garage enclosed in box a little larger than a refrigerator but insulated with 4 inch foam. Its been in service for over 15 years.

 

Heat pumps work. They save money. Saving us $200-$300 per year in electricity for our small family of two is significant. Sure you can go the old-fashioned resistance way and spend (way) more money per month because it is familiar, but heat pumps are just air conditioners in reverse. Not new-fangled science.

The heat pump water heater is as loud as a window air conditioner. And it blows cold air like an air conditioner. If you have a basement or large volume space where your existing electric water heater is located, they are as simple as pie bolt in replacement. Ours is in the unfinished basement so fan noise can't be heard and a little cold air no bigs down there. It defaults to 'energy saver' setting so no need to learn anything or even mess with it's Wi-Fi, just hook it up and start saving money every month. Recovery is fast, the two of us never have run out of hot water even when the wife takes a bath and I take a shower. Works great through the cold Southern Oregon winter since is located in the (unheated) basement where indoor temps never go below freezing.

If you don't have the large space for the heat pump's air requirements, not the right product for you. If you do, I would say they are a no brainer due to the significant electricity savings.

 

In a way you have a ground source heat pump, but transferring ground heat into the air in the basement through the walls instead of refrigerant flowing through a buried pipe and heat exchanger. Pretty nice, if I had a basement I'd go for that setup too. Is your basement wall concrete or block?

Heat pumps work, we have them for heating and cooling, but the way they're normally set up on water heaters in houses it looks like it makes more sense for us to avoid the expense for now.