Heat-pump water heater availability and reliability
brad_rh
| Posted in Mechanicals on
I was set to buy a geospring until I found out that they discontinued them. Does anybody have an opinion on the other brands out there?
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Replies
If I were you, I would start by reading the other Q&A threads on the same topic:
2016 heat-pump water heater rebates - Opinions on best heaters?
Who has a favorite heat-pump water heater?
Is HPWH reliability still an issue?
Does anyone have experience with the Rheem Prestige heat-pump water heater?
GE GeoSpring HeatPump or ?
Heat pump water heater size and brand
-- Martin Holladay
You might enjoy the Sanden heat pump. It's pretty neat in the fact that it operates on c02 and the heat exchanger sits outside instead of removing heat and leaving chilled air in your house. I'm not sure how versed repair centers in the US are working with c02 however.
There may still be life in the geospring:
http://www.thewholesaler.com/content/bradford-white-build-aerotherm-series-heat-pump-water-heaters-michigan-facility
I haven't looked at the high dollar ones like the sanden, but the geospring operates down to 35F, the rest 45F.
From all my research the older model Geospring was made in China which had issues, they then moved production to the USA and fixed many issues (which is the current model and being liquidated by Lowes). Unfortunately many negative reviews and posts on the current model were from old model people. Since the payback time is so short I bought the extended warranty for $59 and am going for it. If it lasts 3 years will be worth it and the warranty is 5 years. Rheem also has unit that is reasonably priced. One catch with it and others (besided geospring) is the location of the water outlet and intake is on the side, making install non-standard.
They are basically window AC + a tank, you'll need to clean the coils periodically...