Heat pump water heater
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Rearscreen
Minister of Fire
Isn't the GeoSpring history? I have one and it works fine but I believe GE discontinued it? I'm about to install another brand for my brother in a few weeks and will get to see that one in operation.
Rearscreen
Minister of Fire
Rearscreen
Minister of Fire
Ok, so it's a Rheem that was delivered at my brothers new house today. (I personally own the now discontinued GE heat pump HWH at my house). Today I open up the electrical connection box and see to my horror, #10 wire! Wait, isn't this supposed to be efficient? A 220 30 amp breaker to a domestic HWH? Whatever...mine draws less power and requires less power apparently with a 20 amp 220 feed. But wait again, does it draw more power over less time? My head is spinning and I have to re-run a larger wire and breaker to feed this beast. On demands require 90 amps BUT is more efficient as the time is only as demanded....technology run amok...way too smart for me little pea brain.....
cableman
Minister of Fire
@Rearscreen, the heavy wire is so that it has enough amperage to run in conventional mode...where it uses the same kind of element as every other electric HWH. In HP mode, it uses far less amperage, and uses about half the electricity kWh per HW BTU delivered, relative to conventional or on-demand.
cableman
Minister of Fire
So today our electric company started offering a rebate on installation of one of these units. What is a good source for comparing recovery performance, reliability, noise, efficiency, etc.? I've found some reviews, from around 2014. Rheem was listed as a noisy unit by that site. The GeoSpring was among the quietest.
Tier 3 qualified products list attached.
Tier 3 qualified products list attached.
Rearscreen
Minister of Fire
My error, just went to basement and it is #10 to 30 a 220 breaker. Thanks for keeping me on my toes cableman! I do recall swearing at GE by not giving me ANY room in the connection box....
Seasoned Oak
Minister of Fire
I set my geospring at 140 the highest setting mostly because it has a long recovery period. Still i sometimes have to change the mode to Heavy Demand which employs the heating elements and then it heats up very fast. 90 % of the time its in Heap pump only mode.
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cableman
Minister of Fire
I havnt run out of hot water yet on the 80gal. Some newer models offer 65gal, that prolly would have been a better option for me.
I lowered my kids shower head with some plastic extensions, this way the water is closer to their head making them use less hot water! Im surprised the wife didnt say anything about the look yet....
I lowered my kids shower head with some plastic extensions, this way the water is closer to their head making them use less hot water! Im surprised the wife didnt say anything about the look yet....
Seasoned Oak
Minister of Fire
Heating your water with 500 watts instead of 4500 watts = priceless And also very cost effective!
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
Not if the 500 watt load runs 10 times as long! I'm sure it doesn't but my little straight electric water heater only runs the 4500 watt element for a short amount of time to recover.
I have done extensive electricity monitoring on mine including running my Geospring in element only mode. You are using around 70% more electricity to heat your hot water than a hpwh. Perhaps you have cheap power there and its not a big deal.
Mine ran for about an hour last night to recover from the dishwasher and my shower.
velvetfoot
Minister of Fire
Bear in mind you KNOW when your heat pump water heater is running. I once forgot to shut the breaker on the straight electric heater after boiler startup and it was months before I noticed.
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
And that is the biggest reason I don't have a hpwh. I have no basement or garage to put the noisy thing! Current tank heater is in the hall closet.
I don't really expect the tank mounted hpwh to be a lasting tech. The split systems are coming.
velvetfoot
Minister of Fire
It's about the time of year I should start up the hp water heater. I'm not totally convinced the hp's tendency to reduce the basement temperature as well as some humidity does a net good as far as moisture condensation goes. Plus, my well insulated 120 gal reverse indirect equipped boiler does not come on that much, and throw in the cheaper oil now...
So far with our rhem heat pump water heater we have saved about 25% in electricity compared to a 1994 water heater. The noise isn't bad. Only notice it in the basement. No different than a fridge. Also I routed the cold air output to the cold air return on our hvac. for summer. Then winter the cold air is vented outside. Has worked pretty well.
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk
It is very likely not saving you energy to vent the cold exhaust of the Rheem unit outside IF the air outside is colder. You will be drawing colder air from the outside into your living space (to make up the missing air you exhausted) through other leaks in your house, and your furnace will need to work harder. If you exhaust into your conditioned space in the winter, while your furnace will still need to make up some of the BTUs that are going to heating water...it will be fewer BTUs than in the exhaust scheme.
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My news from the HPWH front.
I am past the fifth anniversary of putting mine in and scrapping my 'old unfaithful, tried to kill my kids' oil fired boiler. Only problem I had years ago was I had the AO Smith unit 'brick' when its controller board died (a couple months after an epic power surge), and I replaced it myself after the maker fedexed me a replacement board for free.
I have found that the intake air filter (looks like the screens on window ACs) never gets dirty. Thinking that it might restrict the airflow (the AOSmith unit has a bigger fan than most) I took it off and found that the unit got much quieter...can't hear the low 'warp engine' thrum in my living space when its running. Happy.
But at the same time my dehumidifier started working a lot harder (both are in a power ventilated, semi-conditioned attached garage). I figure that at much higher airflow, the air coil is running a lot closer to the air temp, and perhaps above the dew temp...limiting dehumidification. So I put the filter back on.
However, I plan to run without the filter in the cold weather (it gets down to the low 50s in there in Jan-Feb) and should get a little boost to COP and recovery, in addition to getting quieter warp engines.
I am past the fifth anniversary of putting mine in and scrapping my 'old unfaithful, tried to kill my kids' oil fired boiler. Only problem I had years ago was I had the AO Smith unit 'brick' when its controller board died (a couple months after an epic power surge), and I replaced it myself after the maker fedexed me a replacement board for free.
I have found that the intake air filter (looks like the screens on window ACs) never gets dirty. Thinking that it might restrict the airflow (the AOSmith unit has a bigger fan than most) I took it off and found that the unit got much quieter...can't hear the low 'warp engine' thrum in my living space when its running. Happy.
But at the same time my dehumidifier started working a lot harder (both are in a power ventilated, semi-conditioned attached garage). I figure that at much higher airflow, the air coil is running a lot closer to the air temp, and perhaps above the dew temp...limiting dehumidification. So I put the filter back on.
However, I plan to run without the filter in the cold weather (it gets down to the low 50s in there in Jan-Feb) and should get a little boost to COP and recovery, in addition to getting quieter warp engines.
Seasoned Oak
Minister of Fire
My HPWH only lowers the room temp 1 t o2 degrees while running and it quickly recovers when the WH is off. Plus the fact that any vent is notoriously leaky ,so the whole time its not in use its leaking/ drawing cold air into the house as well . Id never vent my WH to the outside.
WoodyIsGoody
Minister of Fire
If you have a freezer nearby you could vent the cool air over the coils to increase efficiency
Seasoned Oak
Minister of Fire
The cool air coming from the HPWH is welcome in the summer and in winter that area is usually around 80 degrees with the stoker going or 90 degrees if the wood stove is going so no need to vent the cool air.
