A heat pump water heater works like a refrigerator in reverse. Instead of using a compressor to pull heat from inside the refrigerator and transfer it to the surrounding room, a water heater heat pump uses the compressor to take heat from the surrounding air and transfers it inside a storage tank, where your water is heated. It is a type of electric water heater.
Book Now Book NowFossil fuel reserves in the world will be used up in 40 years. If we use creative (and more destructive) practices to extract those reserves we could extend this period to 52 years. Forty or 50 years is faster than the blink of an eye in the history of our planet. Fossil fuels will have to be replaced with renewable and mixed sources of energy. We will receive this energy in the form of electricity. Fossil fuels add to greenhouse gases and are a contributor to Global Warming. Electric appliances move us towards a lower carbon footprint.
Your water heater is one of the more robust consumers of energy among your home appliances. In the average home, the hot water heater is responsible for about 17 percent of the total energy use.
Since Natural Gas prices are less than Electricity prices, generally speaking, a gas water heater costs less per month to operate than an electric water heater. Heat pump water heaters are three and a half times more efficient than a standard electric water heater. We can compare operating costs if we use a 50-gallon gas water heater as our standard.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, there are rebates available from Bayren. In Marin County we have rebates from Electrify Marin. In Sonoma County we have rebates from Sonoma Clean Power through the Advanced Energy Center. Rebates range from $1,000 to $5,500 for replacing an existing gas water heater.
Not everyone drives a hybrid or electric car. Logically not everyone will initially want a heat pump eco-friendly water heater.
They are just like a refrigerator. They make noise. We usually locate them in garages and have never had a noise complaint. I would not sleep next to my refrigerator, and I would not want to sleep close to a heat pump water heater (they can be programmed not to run during sleeping hours).
They are storage water heaters. Some people prefer instant hot water from a tankless water heater. Tankless can be exterior mounted. HPWH’s have to be indoors or in a structure.
Our philosophy is simple, we always want to maintain equipment to give it the longest life possible. Next, we want to focus on repairing when something goes wrong. Then only as the last choice, we replace equipment when needed. That’s the John Owens Way.
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