Talk of The Villages Florida - Heat Pump Water Heater

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Originally Posted by JRcorvette (Post 2412936)

Not worth it if you consider the savings vs the cost. Payback time would probably exceed your life span. If you want to save a little you can put your water heater on a simple timer but here in FL even then the savings would be minimal.

You are probably right. I live alone in a courtyard villa, and my SECO bill runs about $80-$130 a month, and that includes recharging my hybrid car that goes 25:miles on batteries before the gas motor kicks in. I take a five or ten minute shower a day. I doubt that my 40 gallon water heater uses more than $40 a month of electricity. Most of the year the garage is hot, so that’s a bit like an insulating blanket around the heater. If a heat pump water heater cut that by 25%, I still probably wouldn’t break even by the time I needed to replace it.

Researched and had an “AquaCal Heat Pump” installed when living down in Coral Springs, so …

… unfortunately cannot recommend a trustworthy local Plumbing Service,

But as I recall, either on the website or during a quick phone call, was given name(s) of Plumbing Company that are well versed in the installation process (w backflow prevention device), and associated to provide the warranty

Quote:

Originally Posted by shut the front door (Post 2412833)

I always have to chuckle at "hot water heater". From the department of redundancy department. Why would you heat hot water, lol. It reminds me of when people say VIN number.

Two redundant words I like are pre-heat and pre-plan. Right now, I am pre-heating my oven, which means that my oven is turned off. I am also doing a lot of pre-planning for things that I will be planning later.

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Originally Posted by jrref (Post 2412772)

I know the system you are talking about. From my research, it's a good device offering the most efficiency to heat hot water. The only problem I have with it is you need to clean the coils inside the unit in order to maintain that efficiency and this job is not easy to accomplish. Also, the unit is large and may not fit in the same space that the traditional hot water heater is located in with homes here in the Villages.

I'm not sure how many responses you are going to get because generally, most here in the Villages are cost driven so many go with the cheapest "deal" they can get. Additionally, in reality, we don't spend a lot of money yearly to heat hot water so spending more for a more efficienct system, both the cost of the unit and the install, is generally not done.

You are probably best to get the highest efficiency conventional hot water heater with a warrenty of 12 years installed by a trusted professional and call it a day. Remember, once you exceed the life of the water heater's warrenty, you don't need to rush out and replace the unit but you should be planning on replacements a year or two beyond that date so you have ample time to do your research and get a good price on replacement.

I asked about these when I replaced our water heater, aged 21 years, a few months ago. Mike Scott plumbing gave the best deal on a standard 40 gallon tank type. Two old folks don’t use enough hot water to make the efficiency delta worthwhile.
That said the Rudd unit they installed seems not terribly efficient, but so far it works well, and the installation process was top notch, A #1, best service contractor I have encountered since I moved to Florida 10 years ago. Mike Scott gets any future plumbing business from me.

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Originally Posted by nn0wheremann (Post 2413173)

There are many reputable plumbing companies like Mike Scott here in the Villages but when replacing your water heater do some research and find a unit that has a longer warranty, higher efficiency and the best ratings. You will be surprised the cost for such a unit is only slightly higher than a "standard" tank that most plumbing companies stock. Remember, no matter how reputable they are, they want to sell you the 6 year tank so you come back to them to replace it on a regular basis.

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Originally Posted by retiredguy123 (Post 2412974)

OMG, those are good ones that made me think. Thanks a lot for the new pet peeve! :BigApplause: