| Considerations true for all types |
 Location
-must
be free from corrosive elements in the atmosphere such as sulfur,
fluorine, and chlorine ... found in aerosol sprays, detergents,
bleaches, cleaning solvents, air fresheners, paint, and varnish
removers, refrigerants, and many other commercial and household
products.
-must be free from excessive dust and lint that may
affect efficiency of the unit.
-heater should be located where tank
or connection leakage will not damage structure.
Ambient air temperature must be considered.
-in Efficiency Mode the ambient air temperature must be above 45°F and
below 109°F ... variable by brand
-if
ambient temperature falls outside the upper and lower range, then
electrical elements can activate to meet hot water demand and heat pump
might not operate.
Cold
temperatures mean less efficiency
Heat pump water heaters are most useful in hot-or-warm
climates.
In cold climates, heat pump efficiency drops when
back-up heat elements
are used to heat very cold incomming water.
During winter, the furnace is heating the air that heat
pump uses to
heat water.
So
you are heating water using the furnace, which is not efficient at all,
and
cancels estimated savings predicted by owning Heat Pump..
Attic/
High heat:
Avoid exposing water heater to temperatures
over 120°F
Heat pump will revert to elements if heat is too high |
 Transporting and moving
Manuals do not specify, but instructions likely show on box.
Keep unit upright is best plan.
Heat pumps are very heavy, care must be taken not to transport so it
puts pressure on TP valve, water outlets, or drain valve.
If
transporting or moving causes heat pump to tilt more than 45°, then the
heat pump must stand upright for 24 hours to ensure refrigerant is back
in place before applying power. Remember, upright is right. |
 All
brands of heat pumps make noise.
"Install
where typical home appliance sound will not cause disturbance."
55 decibels is loud enough to interrupt normal conversation
The sound level of background music, a typical classroom, or
conversation at 3
feet is about 60 dB
70dB are considered annoying and 100 dB very loud.
Rheem 49 dB
Stieble 52-60 dB
Bradford 55 dB
AO Smith N/A (not available)
Vaughn and Hubble N/A |
Must be hard-wired.
Not plug-in
|
 All
brands require adequate incoming and outgoing air space
700-800 cubic feet
is typical.... 10x10x7 room ... 2 louvered doors ... or 8" duct
"Installation
in a confined space will lead to higher power consumption
if adequate ventilation is not provided."
Except for Vaughn maybe, most hybrid models have optional 8" diameter
duct system to bring in
air supply
and expel air that passes through the evaporator coil.
Resources:
Install recirculating pump
Heat pump with storage tank
Two heat pumps
Two water heaters
Mixing valve |
 Duct
Illustration
from Rheem/ altered to scale with shading and wording added
Air flow shown in illustration follows red arrows from left to right
with the
inlet air filter located on top of heater.
-Depending on
need, the Heat Pump can be installed with duct
... with just the inlet duct, or just outlet duct, or both inlet and
outlet
duct.
Installing louvered doors is another option to increase air
flow.
All brands, except possibly Vaughn and Hubble, have a ducting kit.
Rheem
and Bradford White have duct kits for both incoming and outgoing air
supply, allowing for installation
inside enclosed space.... if ducting is installed continuously from
outdoors to outdoors, it allows
heat pump to operate separate from HVAC, and saves energy. The cost and
inconvenience of ducting runs up the overall installation cost
of heat pump, and will probably never pay back if unit requires
extensive ductwork and remodeling, or axillary blower fan etc.
 The
Rheem model has best overall duct system vs Bradford because Rheem air
filter can be cleaned without removing duct. While Bradford White
incoming duct must be removed to clean filter.
Stieble duct kit is
not specified. AO Smith has duct kit for outgoing air supply, but no
resources that show ducting for incoming air.
AO Smith also offers additional booster fan kit to go along with duct,
that would probably work with any brand heater.
Resource:
Example Ducting manual
Booster fan kit manual
Install duct on HHPT tall
Example duct installation tables
|
  Use
thru-wall fan if room size is smaller than 10' x 10'
Hybrid heat pump water heater requires 10' x 10' room
If you do not have that size room, then install thru-wall fan
Running
a fan to supply air to meet the needs of heat pump water heater adds
energy cost, but saves energy if heat pump cannot get enough fresh air
... why? the heat pump loses efficiency with restricted air flow.
Wires
and amp or current switch must be inside enclosed box. Note that the
amp switch must be installed on 1 wire in the circuit, or it will not
activate.
Larger image
Buy:
Thru-wall fans at Amazon
Thru-wall fan at Amazon
Current
switch/ current transducer
6
x 6 enclosures
Resource:
Add a delay timer to the fan
|
 All heat pumps: Air filter is
cleaned each 6 months
Remember the height of 80 gallon heat pump is around 6' tall, which
means most folks need a ladder to clean air filter that is located on
top of heater.
Do not rely on electronic gadgetry to notify of maintenance... be
alert and responsible.
Avoid dusty, dirty, greasy environments
The cleaner the environment, the less cleaning is needed.
If filter is cleaned regularly, then the evaporator coil will not get
dirty.
Running unit with dirty filter or without filter will damage equipment
and lessen expected energy savings.
Air filter is located on incoming or
inlet side of heater.
Typical access requires removing 2 screws or some other simple
mechanism.
If 8" duct is used on inlet side, then duct might need to be
temporarily removed to access filter.
AO Smith
filter on HPTU and FTPU product manuals give instructions
for cleaning filter. Filter can be inspected and
cleaned in place using vacuum or with wet cloth. HHPT tall
has air filter on side, accessible by snapping out grille.
Periodic inspection and cleaning with vacuum cleaner each 6
months will
improve efficiency of all heat pumps.
 You
can also remove and wash with water. Must be dry before reinstalling
... wet filter can cause damage to the condensing unit. Periodic
replacement might be
required.
Do not use cleaning compounds or brushes on the filter or cloth, or
risk damaging filter material.
Bradford
product manual gives instructions for
cleaning filter.
Rheem gives
no instructions, instead the manual says the unit needs regular
maintenance and you should 'schedule a service call.'
A service call every 6 months completely skews cost-benefit of owning a
heat pump vs
ordinary electric water heater that requires almost no service.
Stieble
does not mention or show air filter in their manual, or show a filter
in any parts diagrams, saying instead that the evaporator needs
periodic cleaning, and to 'avoid greasy environment' ... which would
certainly gum up the evaporator.
Vaughn and
Hubble.
There is a filter as mentioned in Hubble manual, but there are no
images available or instructions for accessing. There is a basic verbal
instruction about cleaning filter in the Hubble manual.
Step ladder is needed to clean
filter
80 gallon heat pump is about 6' tall with filter located on top of unit.
Buy:
Cosco
safety ladder
Cosco
heavy duty 23 lb
Cosco
aluminum 16.5 lb |
 All brands
heat pump must be
installed level (plumb) to
ensure proper drainage of
the condensate tray located under the evaporator coil.
All
brands must have a floor drain to route flow of water safely away from
causing damage to property. The water is just condensed moisture taken
from surrounding room. If climate or location is arid, with little
moisture in air, then condensate drain will produce little or no
water.
The condensate drain on heat pumps must be cleaned periodically.
 Floor
drains typically mean sloped floor. Add shims (stainless fender
washers with adhesive) ... or use a cementitious mixture ...
under water heater to ensure it stays
level.
|
 All brands of heat pump produce
condensation
Heat pumps come with a plastic drain line that is connected to the
condensate tray.
The plastic condensate line needs to
be kept clean to prevent water damage to home.
If condensate line is blocked, the overflow will let water run down
side of heater.
How
it works: Fan pulls air
from room into evaporator Warm moist air passing through evaporator
causes water to condensate on coils and drip down into condensate tray.
Water empties out of tray into condensate drain line and flows to
bottom of water heater.
Condensate line should drop down side of tank and terminate at or above
adequate floor drain.
Some people use a tin can, or bucket and then dump bucket periodically.
This could be a source of mold inside home. Don’t let
water in bucket get higher than drain line. Use a pump to evacuate
condensate water into household drain.
If
condensate drain is clogged, water will drip down side of
water heater.
Check
and clean condensate drain lines periodically
Remove condensate line, take outdoors, use wire to
make sure ends
are open, swing line around over head to clean tubing, and then
rinse outdoors. Water inside tube is not clean and contains
bacteria. Let soak in bleach. New condensate line can be installed
periodically to offset problems
Resource:
Blocked condensate/ Rheem
Clean condensate line Bradford White
|
 Clean evaporator coil once per
year?
"Proper cleaning of the supplied, washable air filter should prevent
evaporator from getting dirty."
"However, should the evaporator become dirty, it must be cleaned to
maintain performance of the heat pump"
"The most effective way to clean the evaporator is to use a
commercially available spray cleaner
intended for cleaning air conditioner evaporators." Do not breathe
these chemicals.
Maintaining full
output might require occasional professional cleaning of
evaporator. .
Resource:
Cleaning evaporator coil on heat pump
Evaporator
may not be easy to access because of compressor, fan blade
and housing.
Undo screws and remove water heater cover. Remove air filter
as needed. Carefully clean evaporator fins. You can use water
and
a soft brush. Tape
a soft-bristle toothbrush to a stick. Never
use acidic or alkaline cleaning agents.
If evaporator has not been wet, then use compressed air to blow out
dust. Do not expect detailed instructions or illustrations in any
product
manual.
Ordinary
electric water heater needs less maintenance than heat pump.
Resource:
Typical Water heater maintenance
|
  Research
says:
Overall, heat pump ''succeeds in providing hot water
for all
scenarios tested and can maintain a high level of performance, even at
low ambient temperatures.'
Resources:
Cost of operating heat-pump water heater/
html
Gov laboratory evaluation of heat pumps 2011
(unknown who paid for research)
Yes heat
pumps work as promised, but....
claim of
savings is tempered by purchase price, noise, need 10 x10 space for
installation (or a duct kit), yearly maintenance, limited life
of product, cost of
repairs and parts, and other factors.
Heat pump blows cold air into
room, which lowers ambient room temperature and ... heat pump can work
against itself.
Works against HVAC ... using energy from HVAC to heat water.
Best suited for warm climate where ambient air temperature is warm ...
for example installing heat pump in unheated Florida garage would yield
better result than installing inside home and expecting HVAC to heat
your hot water while heat pump claims credit for energy savings.
 Coefficient of performance
Coefficient
of performance shown on right illustrates the general proportion of
energy that
comes from the ambient air temperature surrounding the heat pump. Using
heat pump technology can save energy if the ambient temperature of air
is supplied by natural outdoor temperatures (solar heating) and not
from the HVAC.
There are no numbers, from any study, that attempt to calculate the
energy spent by HVAC, furnace etc to heat ambient air used by heat
pump. But if the furnace is supplying the hot air that heat pump uses
to heat water, then it disqualifies claims of savings from using a heat
pump.
It
would be nice if the 'free market' included full and accurate
disclosure instead of constantly running the puffery over us at 100
mph..
All
Costs are energy, what is total cost of a heat pump?
Total energy-cost
equals cost of water heater,
plus installation, plus expected repairs-and-parts, plus
disposal-recycling cost, divided by years of tank life. These numbers
are added to monthly energy cost to measure true energy cost &
efficiency of a water heater.
Government/industry efficiency numbers consider only energy cost per
gallon of heated water ... and they assume all other costs will be the
same no matter what type of heater is used ... which is not true,
because the peripheral costs of ordinary electric heater are far less,
even though the cost per gallon of hot water is more.
 Where's
the electric meter that proves savings?
If the overall reason we are
using Heat Pumps is to save energy ... save the planet ... conserve
resources
... all greenie weenie ... then....
-Where are the before and after meter readings from homes that saved so
much money using Heat Pumps?
-Put
up the REAL world numbers ...add a small kilowatt hour meter
to each
water heater ...
couldn't cost more than a bit on the retail end...
Resource
How to add electric meter to water heater
|
Rebates
Remember that a
government rebate
is you borrowing money from yourself to buy a product you wouldn't
ordinarily buy ... so the question becomes... if the numbers don't add
up without a rebate, why would you loan yourself money to buy it
anyway?
And more to the point, who is running your government
to make a decision to offer rebates?
It might be an effort to perform
grand experiments in energy ... which is remotely plausible ... except
who is
compiling
data for the experiment? The stockholders of companies selling the
products?
This applies to rooftop solar PV systems and Heat Pumps
and a host of other big ticket items in 2019 that
supposedly SAVE
ENERGY ... go green they cry ... coal n oil are bad, puke ... ok, it's
true ... except all costs are energy ...
If the
solar panels push a trickle of electrons (let's say 20 amps) into the
system, not enough to run the 30 amp Heat Pump water heater more
than an hour or two a day maybe, and the solar panels cost more to buy
than the power they
generate ... then how is that saving energy?
The
energy landscape is changing fast, as people demand a response to
global
warming ... so expect action after the crisis hits,
whether that be massive increases in electric costs, or widespread
flooding of oil refineries accompanied by plague of locust exacerbated
by government corruption.
The only way rebates make sense is to argue that all costs are NOT
energy ...
that costs are far inflated and what matters is you hurry up and buy a
product so ... so ... you can feel better thinking you're doing your
part?? For crying out loud, move into a trailer with 6 other people
without hot water if you want to do your part, except the government
would never award that trailer an energy star because it has
single-pane windows, despite per capita numbers that could prove it is
more efficient than where you live.
My
final conclusion
If heat pumps are
the miracle cure for global
warming, conveniently consolidated into an expensive 300lb piece of
machinery,
taking up a huge space in your home, requiring maintenance and
cleaning, and noisily blowing cold air while using your HVAC to heat
water, then bacon can fly.
Exclusion would be heat pumps installed in unheated garage located
in naturally warm climate ... but then if the climate is warm, why
isn't the water being heated using solar instead of buying a colossal
machine?
Resources:
9 ways to save with water heater/ solar
Heat-pumps-reduce-Carbon-Emissions-vs-gas-heaters.pdf |
The
product is pretty.
Hubble
and Vaughn heat pumps do not need anode rod due to
the hydrastone lining (covering all interior surfaces tank)
that "absorbs and traps water, which then loses its oxygen and becomes
inert, thus preventing tank corrosion.'
