Heat pump water heater?

[ChoppyChoppy]

Why would you take 2 showers a day?

I take a shower every 2-3 days in winter, every night in summer.

Gas is around $1.50 per ccf.

 

[Need2Saw]

Gas is around $1.50 per ccf.

Natural gas is much cheaper in Michigan. We pay .60cents/ccf
You are paying more than we are for propane right now, but propane fluctuates too much for my liking.

 

[NSMaple1]

Why would you have a 80 gallon water heater if your using less than 50 gallons of how water a day? My 50 gallon electric is using $50+ per month with my wife, 2 children(baths) and myself. If i turn on my recirc pump, the bill goes up $20/month. Hard to believe i could spend $20 heating recirculated hot water and you spend $25 on your total hot water bill. I wish that was possible with my .13cent/KW electric water heater.

My dad on the other hand, he has a 40 gallon natural draft natural gas water heater. He used 1.2-1.4MCF in the summer months on hot water. With his natural gas costing $6.04/MCF, he pays more for the meter charge($11.75) than he does for the gas, but he doesn't use much hot water. (2 adults)
I'm still trying to figure out how to get natural gas to my house....hmm.

I went big because I wanted the extra storage capacity. I heat it with wood in the winter, and when I did my heating system over had plans to do the same all summer with infrequent firings. I got to the point I could go a week between fires in the summer for DHW, but in the end, decided it wasn't worth it for me to burn wood in the summer for DHW, unless I have junk to get rid of. So, if I was doing the whole thing over again, I likely wouldn't get as big a tank. Maybe. I have also considered (still am somewhat) adding a HPWH to it too - in which case I would still want my 80 gallon tank.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Natural gas is much cheaper in Michigan. We pay .60cents/ccf
You are paying more than we are for propane right now, but propane fluctuates too much for my liking.

Propane is around $3.50/gal. Fuel oil around $2.20

 

[blades]

One thing with propane - rent tank or own tank- much better if you own your tank as most rental deals are a rip off. Wish I could just buy my own Electric and gas meters for the house as I have paid for the ones there several times over the years. I can remember when there were no faculties and distribution charges on my bills. ( might still have been a meter rental charge) ( which lately is what they have taken to increasing to generate more revenue) I also remember back in the mid 70's when one of the Electric co. said they had to raise rates to pay their guaranteed figures to investors because we conserved too much. This after years of hype about conserving usage. ( That really pissed me off - still does). catch 22 ( something similar just slipped out from a WE Energies executive just recently ) Unfortunately in my area we are stuck with WE for both NG and Electric- monopoly- They seem to be above the laws concerning this. We does produce some energy here but the bulk is brought in from out of state- Funny part is they have a wind farm deal and a bio mass plant in state - power from those is sold out of state- go figure.

 

[Mustang71]

Hey I have 2 power plants in the county I live in one sends all its power to NYC and Canada. The other is in the same town I live in, about 2 miles away, and powers this whole western NY area all I get from that is cheap taxes. Doesn't seem fair to me why don't I get a discount on electric.

 

[stihly dan]

So ur saying in the summer it costs as much as running a dehumidifier? So soon to be a family of 4 I wonder if a mixing valve would help the efficiency a bit. I'm not buying one soon since my tank is still cooking but in a year or 2 if it'd really a good energy saver I could see it happening. You most likely have about the same weather as I do which was one of my concerns...winter efficency.

Costs less to run than the dehumidifier.

 

[stihly dan]

[QUOTE="stihly dan, post: 6160140, member: They don't even make an electric water heater above 55 gallons anymore. Electric is obsolete, in a few years you won't even be able to buy any above 15 gallons.

That's not true. They have 80 gallon units available at Lowe's for sure, was looking at water heaters 2 days ago.[/QUOTE]

It should be true. The laws went into effect last april I believe. They may have stock piled them. IDK.

 

[blades]

I would doubt that electric wh would be completely discontinued- many areas do not have gas service available be it lp cng ng or what ever, but they do have connection to the electric power grid. Can't base your opinion on your local situation. From this thread I see that some areas are getting gouged by the utilities. My local area isn't that much better in that respect either imop.

 

[stihly dan]

I just went to AO smith site, Bradford white, GE, and american. None of them sell an electric only above 55 gal.

 

[stihly dan]

[QUOTE="stihly dan, post: 6160140, member: They don't even make an electric water heater above 55 gallons anymore. Electric is obsolete, in a few years you won't even be able to buy any above 15 gallons.

That's not true. They have 80 gallon units available at Lowe's for sure, was looking at water heaters 2 days ago.[/QUOTE]

According to their web site lowe's does not sell them, either does home depot. Again this is from their web sites.

 

[anlrolfe]

Remind me of where the heat is coming from to run the heat pump?
In a cold climate its robbing your house, sort of like Peter for Paul.

 

[Mustang71]

Lowes tanks are made by ao smith.

They use the heat in your house to heat but I heat with propane and wood not electric. Heating my house is a lot cheaper than heating my water. New tanks don't run much either due to the new regulations on the insulation around them so it's not robbing ur heat all day long.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

That's not true. They have 80 gallon units available at Lowe's for sure, was looking at water heaters 2 days ago.

According to their web site lowe's does not sell them, either does home depot. Again this is from their web sites.[/QUOTE]
this HTML class. Value is http://m.homedepot.c

Argh... great... the w3b board is gonna do that crap again! It's a Home Despot link on a 80 gal water heater. Lowe's also gas several 8n their site too.

 

[Marshy]

Remind me of where the heat is coming from to run the heat pump?
In a cold climate its robbing your house, sort of like Peter for Paul.

It's uses your space heating to heat the water. Depending on your climate some people install them in a cubby on the exterior of the home and put them in hybrid mode and that lets the machine choose either heat pump mode or electrical elements. It that case the unit would still be beneficial down to low 60's ambient temperature.

Since I heat my house with wood and it's installed in close proximity to my stove it's not big deal. If you had a gas fired boiler in a mechanical room the heater would likely have sufficient heat in that room to donuts job. There is a minimum room size recommend by the manufacturer but you could just add some air vents to the room to ensure it have enough air flow.

 

[aokpops]

I really don't need hot water . Give it up for 30 days you might not never go back . Keep it 99 an under no more dry skin chap stick a lot health problems will be gone . We really pay a high price with hot water we really do . The big thing that happens is the mind set ,Oh some one got sick I'm worried I could catch it . The new mind set is I can handle with ease Not wanting to steal the thread hot water on humans is not good .

 

[Mustang71]

I do agree hot water is bad for my eczema but if I got rid of it I'd be shot by someone around here.

 

[anlrolfe]

Keep it 99 an under no more dry skin chap stick a lot health problems will be gone .

W/ little people(kids) no worries about getting scalded when the t-stat is set low.

I'm cheap and heating water takes tons of energy. I keep the t-stat warm enough to where I'll have to add a little cold water occasionally.

I run a 40gal Natural Gas storage water heater. Small heaters have an unbelievable recovery time and even with 2-kids(teens) and a family of four(4) we never run out of hot water.

My current heater is getting old(12yrs) and I'm debating going with an on-demand natural gas unit. We have a lot of mineral in our municipal water and I'm not sure how the tubes in the on-demand will be without an annual flush and clean.

 

[aokpops]

I do agree hot water is bad for my eczema but if I got rid of it I'd be shot by someone around here.

I still have it don't use it much ,light bill is a lot lower .

 

[aokpops]

W/ little people(kids) no worries about getting scalded when the t-stat is set low.

I'm cheap and heating water takes tons of energy. I keep the t-stat warm enough to where I'll have to add a little cold water occasionally.

I run a 40gal Natural Gas storage water heater. Small heaters have an unbelievable recovery time and even with 2-kids(teens) and a family of four(4) we never run out of hot water.

My current heater is getting old(12yrs) and I'm debating going with an on-demand natural gas unit. We have a lot of mineral in our municipal water and I'm not sure how the tubes in the on-demand will be without an annual flush and clean.

I know what you mean with a full house . Get everyone to work on there thermogenesis .