We saw a lot of cool stuff at IBS yesterday, but the new product that I was still thinking about when I woke up this morning was GE’s new heat pump water heater. Water heating is a popular subject with our readers. In the last few years, stories about hot water recirculation, tank vs. tankless appliances, and how to save money on hot water have been among your favorites. And for good reason, water heating is second only to heating and cooling in terms of a home’s biggest energy consumers. And because water heaters are a relatively inexpensive appliance, upgrades are a viable way to lower your energy use and save money.
GE’s new Hybrid Electric Water Heater uses heat pump technology to cut annual energy consumption is half, approximately 2300 kWh per year instead of the 4800 kWh per year used by the average electric tank style water heater, according to GE. Users will save approximately $250 per year, based on 10 cents per kWh. They call it a hybrid, because when needed, the appliance can act as a more common electric resistance water heater to meet demand, which is something you can use its Smart Controls to tell it to do. So, whether you’re hosting family for the holidays (set it to High Demand), or leaving for a week of vacation (Set it to “Vacation or Away), you can choose to balance performance and efficiency as you need.
The Hybrid Electric Water Heater will cost about $1500, or $3000 installed, according to a GE representative at the show. It’s expensive, but the good news is that it installs like any other electric water heater and is about the same size as an equivalent tank-style model. So, if you can handle some basic plumbing and wiring, you shouldn’t need a plumber for this project.
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IBS 2010: Promising new water heater GE released the first Energy Star rated water heater that uses heat pump technology and smart controls for significant energy saving potential. Read more… |
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GE's new Hybrid Electric Water Heater features a simple electronic control panel.
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GE's new Hybrid Electric Water Heater is designed to provide the same amount of hot water as a conventional heater, using half the energy.
View Comments
Great idea, but with a possible $2500 savings over ten years, still a hard sell when it will cost $3000. Especially when one considers those savings are always calculated on best-case scenarios. If you are frugal hot water users (single, travel a lot, etc.) your payback could be 25 years. What's the average time anyone owns a house now? Seven years or so?
What would be nice is to see this integrated into a whole-house heat pump system, rather than a separate unit with its inherent service issues. Just think, in the summer you'd heat you hot water with waste heat from cooling the house.
Do you think that payback calculation includes the cost of annual servicing?
I was hoping heat pump water heaters would come in at a price that would make them a viable sustainable and affordable option. And I was hoping the heat pump water heaters would be a stronger option to tankless. But this is too expensive--2-3 times as much as a standard water heater. Once again the only people who are going to spring for these heat pump models are those who don't have budget restrictions or hardcore greenies who are willing to take a big hit in the interest of sustainability.
At this price point the heat pumps don't pull ahead of tankless water heaters for price. I wonder how efficient a heat pump water heater is relative to a gas-fired tankless water heater. The nice thing is that the heat pump is electric which could be a cleaner form of energy than gas depending on how the electricity is produced. And you don't have to run gas or propane if you don't already have it. But at $600-700 for an Airtap heat pump unit that mounts on top an existing electric water heater, these new units just don't really pull ahead.
I was just hoping for more.
Heat pump water heaters aren't new. There have been a few stand alone and add-on units for several years but as Brian notes, GE's is the first E Star. The other models are by much less known brands. One of the other brands -Air Tap- can be connected to ducts and help dehumidify and cool interior air. It's unfortunate that GE's doesn't seem to adapt well.
As other commenters point out, the installed price of the GE model may have a long payback period but it's the first from a major manufacturer. Hopefully other companies will introduce their own and we'll see prices come down. Then, when the payback drops into the 10 year or less range we'll probably see heat pump water heaters become commonplace.
Think hybrid cars and the few early adopters who paid a premium. It's only a matter of time before heat pump water heaters change the landscape.