Not a dumb question. The pump is mounted directly to the top of the tank, yes.
I suppose anything is possible, but I do not think you would gain anything by remotely mounting this unit, as you would lose energy in the transmission pipes and in the pumping, even if they were insulated. You also need to have this in a room with a lot of volume, not a broomcloset or under the stairs, as it extracts the energy from the air around it, and you need a lot of air to heat 50 gallons of water.
If I were to try heating with this heater, I think I would use the heater as it is, and just run the water through it directly, or with a heat exhanger.
But, I don't belive the heat pump is big enough to handle a large sustained load.
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