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ncbill
Premium Member
join:2007-01-23
Winston Salem, NC

ncbill to John97

Premium Member

to John97

Re: Hybrid-electric water heaters

The first-generation Geospring units have their heat pump units sourced from China, with frankly terrible reviews for reliability.

Even for those still under warranty some customers have had to wait nearly a month for parts to become available - can you live w/o hot water for several weeks?

The second-generation are now made in the U.S., but there is not yet enough data to determine their reliability - buy the extended warranty (parts & labor)

There are other heat pump-assisted water heaters out there, but they normally cost at least 2x that of the Geospring.

Why not solar instead? You are in Florida.

Or simply add a timer to each water heater?
said by John97:

Thanks for the replies.

Like I indicated in the original post, my new house has two water heaters which I plan to replace with hybrid units. One services the master suite, a full hall bath, and a powder room. The other services the kitchen, and two other full baths.

So, the "load" is going to be pretty evenly spread across the two units. One unit is located in the laundry room, the other is located in a utility room that is only accessible from the outside of the house. Providing a condensate drain will not be an issue at either location.

I am looking at this unit in particular:

»products.geappliances.co ··· 50DEEDSR

HarryH3
Premium Member
join:2005-02-21

1 recommendation

HarryH3

Premium Member

ncbill's post brings up an excellent point. A standard water heater is quite possibly the simplest appliance in a home. I just can't see a good reason to replace one with a device that adds an electric motor, a compressor, a control board, condensor and evaporator coils and refrigerant. Just seems to be adding far too many potential points of failure. Once that thing is out of warranty any repair costs are likely to be crazy expensive.

Who do you call when it breaks? I'm fairly sure that you won't find many plumbers with HVAC skills and licenses.

ArgMeMatey
join:2001-08-09
Milwaukee, WI

ArgMeMatey to ncbill

Member

to ncbill
said by ncbill:

Why not solar instead?

If I lived in Florida and had the choice between these units and solar, why wouldn't I choose solar?

In fact it seems any residential dwelling where there would be enough waste heat to make the compressor units cost-effective, solar would be simpler choice with lower operating cost.

The report did a good job exploring the usage patterns where these would not make sense. I wondered, if I could have a larger compressor and a 100- or 150-gallon tank, could I get a better payback, or just a more realistic recovery rate?

guppy_fish
Premium Member
join:2003-12-09
Palm Harbor, FL

guppy_fish to ncbill

Premium Member

to ncbill
said by ncbill:

Why not solar instead? You are in Florida.

I have had solar hot water, when it functions, its great, when something goes wrong it can be significant damage or have a significant cost to repair.

I've had a collect fail and once freeze ( yup even in Florida ) due to the controller being issue.

Putting holes in your roof for both mounting and larger ones for pluming, can lead to a path for water damage , a failed panel can dump a large amount of water into ones ceiling

My personal choice, having done the solar route, is cheap and simple, the cost savings for me would take decades to even break even on a Geo unit or solar.

A 30 dollar extra insulation blanket is the best solution for cost savings in Florida, the thermal losses on conventional HW tanks are pretty low as 3/4 of the year its warm and hot!, our electric rate are very reasonable as well.