Heat pump water heater experience?
Hi all,
We’ll be installing a 50-gal HPWH in a remodel project which includes transitioning from natural gas to electric space heating and water heating. Hot water load will be small so we have no concerns about slow recovery rate; a HPWH will readily meet our needs. I’m looking for feedback on your experience with specific brands/models.
We’re finalizing the dimensions of the closet in which the water heater will be located. The layout is tight but we of course need to make sure we provide adequate space for plumbing connections and ducting. Supply air will be provided via a louvered door; exhaust will be ducted to the crawlspace below (which is inside the thermal envelope).
Our contractor has posed three different units (all for about the same installed cost):
* State Premier XL HPSX-50-DHPT (top exhaust)
* Rheem Professional Prestige Proterra PROPH50 T2 RH375-SO (side exhaust)
* Bradford White Aerotherm RE2H50S10-CON (side exhaust)
Any experience pro or con with any of these units – noise, reliability, durability, etc – would be helpful.
As the water heater closet will be located adjacent to the kitchen, noise is a consideration. We have listened to the B-W unit at a friend’s house; it’s level of noise would be fine. I have seen complaints in this forum about condenser fan noise with the Rheem “Gen 5” units – not sure whether the model currently available is that generation. The State unit marketing materials claim “45 dBA operating sound level is the quietest heat pump in the industry.”
Thanks in advance,
Doug
PS We’re in northern Colorado, CZ 5B.
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Follow-up:
We installed the State HPWH. The mechanical contractor screwed up and somehow ordered and installed an 80-gal unit rather than the 50-gal heater we requested and they quoted. Oops! The contractor ate the cost difference. We lost some space in the water heater closet but gained a lot of unanticipated hot water storage.
The heater is in a relatively small closet in the living space just off the kitchen. Intake air is ducted from a grille over the door; exhaust air is ducted down to the (conditioned) crawlspace.
Operation noise initially was higher than expected, at a pitch that was annoying. There was a hard duct on the intake that channeled noise from the heat pump out through the intake grille. Disconnecting the duct made a big difference; much quieter while the heat pump was able to pull air through the same grille via the closet. The contractor replaced the hard duct with a flexible/insulated/sound-attenuating duct; that also yielded a good result.
Lesson learned: In our house, the intake grille orients directly toward the kitchen. It would have been much better to orient that grille away from living spaces. The initial noise problem was much reduced when we stepped around the corner so the sound didn't have a straight-line path to our ears.
We don't use much hot water. There are typically just two of us hot-water-conserving folks living here. Coupled with the 80-gal tank , in practice we virtually never hear the unit run. We operate on "heat-pump-only" and don't anticipate ever having a problem with hot water supply.
When I get some bandwidth, I'm going to check into control options so that the water heater is only allowed to run during off-peak periods. A hot 80-gal tank should more than meet our daily needs.
Doug