Hybrid Water Heater

[Patrick]

I decided to go ahead and get a hybrid water and install it before the tax rebate (30%) runs out at the end of this year.

I went with the Rheem from Home Depot.Rheem EcoSense 50 gal. Hybrid Electric Water Heater with Heat Pump technology - HP50ES at The Home Depot

I ordered it online and they delivered it to my house for free. It took about 5 days to get here. According to the EPA sticker it only uses $284 worth of electricity per year, which is about half the average. So payback should be about 4 years (after the tax rebate). That beats the heck out of anything I could do with a wind turbine or solar PV.

I had also looked at the GE offering from Lowes, but decided against it because it requires 7" of space behind it and I just don't have that kind of room to install it. Shop GE 50-Gallon GeoSpring™ Hybrid Water Heater at Lowes.com

The GE does have a better Coefficient Of Performance (2.35) than the Rheem (2.0). Also, the Rheem has unconventional water pipe connections that will require me to redo some of the plumbing. But the GE requires more space overhead to remove the air filter.

So now my garage will be cooler in the summer (good) and colder in the winter (bad). But I don't do much in the garage in the winter time.