Heat Pump Hot Water Heaters are great !

User: mduclos1@icloud.com

Vendor: Drive Green - Green Energy Consumers Alliance

Action: 3566 - Install A Heat Pump Water Heater

I added an Air Source Heat Pump (HP) to heat our home, and so have little need for our old oil fired boiler, except it has a tankless coil used to make hot water. This is a very inefficient way to make hot water, it was perhaps in the range of 60-65% efficient. Another unsatisfactory aspect is that the water temperature varied when taking a shower, as the boiler cycled on and off.

After doing some research, I settled on a 65 gal RHEEM HP WH (Heat Pump Water Heater, to be installed in our unheated basement. For all of 2023, I measured our use of 9,300 gallons of hot water and a use of 1500 KWhrs of electricity purchased from Hudson Light and Power for a total annual cost of $195.

We are pleased with the performance. We especially enjoy the consistent water temperature the HP WH provided. While I did insulate the basement at the same time as the HP WH was installed, there has been no significant difference in the basement temperature. A big bonus to the HP WH is that it dehumidifies our basement enough we no longer have the need for a dehumidifier, which formerlly used quite a lot of electricity. 

When the HP WH is running, it makes about as much noise as a window mounted air conditioner, and produces about as much cool air.

I would advise those considering installing a HP WH to be sure their installer is familiar with, and can repair the HP WH you install. I had a thermistor fail, and while the part was covered under warranty the labor was not and my plumber unfortunately had no experience in performing the repair, so it took longer than it would have otherwise.