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Heat pump water heaters are all the rage right now and folks are definitely talking about them. A heat pump water heater can be a key element on your road to electrification. While you may be considering converting your natural gas water heater to a heat pump water heater, it would help to have a good understanding of what exactly a heat pump water heater is and why they are so energy efficient. We actually talked about heat pumps for a previous Technology Tuesday on March 5, 2019, however it is a topic worth revisiting given the current conversations.
The best explanation of how a heat pump water heater works, that I have seen, I found on energy.gov, “To move the heat, heat pumps work like a refrigerator in reverse.” This is a great visual but what exactly does it mean?
A refrigerator works by pulling the heat out of the box where your food is stored and exhausts it to the outside air. On the other hand, a heat pump pulls the heat from the surrounding air inside to heat the water in your storage tank. For this reason, heat pump water heaters work the best in warmer climates. Consequently, they are not very efficient in very cold climates. For the most part, the installation location should be between 40°F and 90°F year around and have at least 1,000 cubic feet of air space around the heat pump for it to work most effectively. In fact, a heat pump will cool the outside air around it which can be handy in certain applications.
It is very cool that a heat pump water heater is, essentially a backward refrigerator, but what about that makes it efficient? Since heat pumps use electricity to move heat instead of generating heat where it did not exist before, this process is much more energy efficient. In fact, this process is 2-3 times more efficient than a conventional water heater. Additionally, while heat pump water heaters have higher initial costs, they also have much lower operating costs because they require less maintenance. This is something to keep in mind when considering making the switch.
Another amazing thing about heat pumps is they are versatile. For instance, you can purchase a stand-alone heat pump water heating system, or you can purchase an air-source heat pump system that also has the ability to integrate space heating, space cooling, as well as water heating. As we embark upon this journey toward energy efficiency with our minds toward resiliency, it is important to think ahead about where things are headed. A heat pump water heater may not be the cost saving measure you are looking for at the immediate moment, this measure is a huge stride toward resiliency in the future.
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