Heat Pump Water Heater
 

Has anyone installed a heat pump water heater? If so, what brand, contractor, and are you satisfied with it?

Are you referring to heating pool water or the water in your home?

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 would also add that, when your water heater fails, you want it replaced immediately. There are several plumbing companies in The Villages who will replace a conventional water heater the same day at a competitive price. I doubt that this is true for a heat pump water heater.

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.

Spend dollar to Save nickel?:ohdear:

It' interchangable with Water Heater lol.

Sounds expensive and impractical for The Villages?
 

They sound like good idea on the surface, however a heat pump to heat water requires a lot of surrounding ambient warm air in which to draw that warm air from.
Many Villages homes have the water heater in a small conditioned room along with the air handler for the regular heat pump.
Also I understand the the fan is somewhat noisy.

Don't know how one would be installed in the newer homes with the water heater outdoors on the side of the house. Besides, the newer ones operate on natural gas.

Everything You Need to Know about Heat Pump Water Heaters - This Old House

Hybrid water heater
 

I looked into it a few years ago & decided to stay with the conventional system. The regular 50 gallon tank is about 1k to replace & the hybrid unit was at the time around $2500. The plumbing/piping work is extensive, the unit has to sit on the concrete floor instead of on the raised platform and in a closet where my regular heater is located. It takes 2-4 years to break even. All said and done, I decided to pass on the hybrid unit. Mike Scott & other plumbing companies can install this unit.

I'm not sure it would be applicable here in TV, but in a previous home in Missouri we used a geothermal heat pump system that we included as a component in new construction. A by-product of the geothermal system running was the production of hot water. We had two 50 gallon water heaters that never ran out of hot water, much as a teenage daughter might try! In an all-electric 4,000 sq ft home, our electric bills averaged about $165 per month. The hot water was basically "free."

Installed a Rheem last year
 

We (I) installed a Rheem heat pump hot water heater as a replacement to an old resistance hot water heater in the garage last year.
Benefits are:
Lower electrical use (estimated 4 years of use to justify the cost difference)
WiFi - if we head out on vacation and forget to put in vacation mode can do via cell phone
Smart - it takes longer to reheat the water - but if demand is high (overnight guests) it switches to resistance heat. Also you can see the electrical usage.
Cooling - acts as an AC in the garage. Granted only a few degrees but when running you can stand in front and cool off!
Dehumidifier - while running it dehumidifies the air in the garage. Again not huge but maybe 10 to 20% lower than outside air.

Size - same footprint but taller.
Piping - cold water inlet is on the bottom, so a bit of added pipe to accommodate. Also taller so adjust the return line.

You do need a drain line for the condensation. It can’t be the same as the pressure relief line. I have a slop sink nearby I tied into.

Uses the same power line as original h2o heater.

I can use an air compressor to blow off the fins but have not had to yet. There is a rudimentary air filter to prevent larger particles from entering. That is still clean after 1 year.

Overall happy with the performance. Since we have installed no issues and have not run out of hot water. I have to rely on the science to let me know it was worth the investment, as we also installed a car charger around the same time so electricity bill isn’t a valid indicator.

Would I do it again? So far yes.

YMMV

I could be wrong, but I think the water table is too high to install the underground pipes.

We did, after 8 years we had to throw it out. The pole (anode) down the middle needed replacing. The problem is there is a fan & motor attached to the top of the hotwater heater preventing you from removing the lid in order to remove the pole/anode rod. The idea is great, use the heat from the garage to assist in heating the water. This doesn't work so well, if you install the dehumidifier to cool off the garage. We love the Mitsubishi split that cools the garage.

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.

Yes, I forgot to mention that replacing the anode rod on this system can be done but it's very labor intensive to the point where you wouldn't want to do it. There is a YouTube video showing the process. If I had one of these tanks I would want to replace the existing anode rod with an electronic one so I would only need to go through the process once but even once in my opinion is way too much work and to risky. Also, concerning cleaning the coils, in order to do the correct job you need to take off the top of the unit and blow the dust from the inside out according to the YouTube video's I've seen.

I think if you are very handy or have deep pockets and or have a basement where you can work on the tank with plenty of room around it, it may be something to get if you want to see how much you can save on heating water.

Again, we only spend a couple hundred dollars to heat water (except if you have a pool which uses it's own system) per year so the extra expense, noise, and difficulty maintaining the system may not be worth it.