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Old 08-20-13, 01:33 PM   #1
hikerjohnson
Submarine Renovator
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Southern Maine
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Default Review: Rheem HP50RH Water Heater

I decided to take advantage of a lovely combination of events and get myself a brand-new heat pump water heater!

First, Home Depot was having a sale, and marked down the 50-gallon Rheem HP50Rh to $1200 from $1500.

Second, they sent me a 10% off coupon.

Third, Maine offers a $500 cash rebate for heat pump water heaters.

Fourth, the Feds give back another 10% ($120) in tax credit.

Fifth and final, Home Depot offered free 18-month financing!

So, for around $460 when all is said and done, I have a new, shiny toy! I figure that amount of cash will be recouped over the life of the heater. Also, I get a perfectly good 50-gallon electric water heater to use for some unspecified purpose in the future... (solar??)

Now, it turns out that this model is being discontinued in favor of a higher COP model that will be coming out sometime soon, so that tempers the usefulness of this report.

Installation was straightforward, with one pointed difference from a normal water heater: the cold water inlet is down onthe bottom, and the hot water outlet it about 3/4 of the way up on the side. This thing, by the way, is almost 7 feet tall (Heavy, too!). It looks a bit like a Dalek sans arms and eyestalk.





You can see the temporary nature of the install, the control panel is around the backside right now, and the condensate line runs down to a small condensate pump on the floor that also serves my dehumidifier, at the foot of the water heater.

It has been installed for about two weeks now, and just looking at the daily energy usage reports from the power company, I can see that power consumption is down noticeably, but I will have to wait until month's end to see what my month-on-month numbers are for electric usage.

The experience has been very positive so far. It has a stated COP of 2.0, though I have no hard numbers to back that up. I'd like to know, but I'm still thinking about how I can datalog to do it.

The heat pump, when operating, blows a fair bit of cold air into the basement, and sounds like an old dehumidifier, with a noticeable noise through the whole basement. In the living spaces, you can hear it in the kitchen, but it sounds like the refrigerator is running, nothing more. It's not audible anywhere else in the house.

It takes a chunk of the dehumidification load off my basement dehumidifier, which cycles noticeably less since I installed the water heater. When operating, you can see a steady trickle of water streaming down the drain tube and into the condensate pump.

All in all, I am very happy with it!

If anyone has specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

Future plans for this include installing an electric meter so that I can totalize energy consumption for hot water. Also, I will be moving it to another spot in the basement, as all my copper lines are rotted, and will be replaced with PEX this winter.


Last edited by hikerjohnson; 08-23-13 at 07:26 AM.. Reason: noting temporary installation, added photos
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