Bought a heat pump water heater last spring or stuck with gas. Here's what I went with.

I had to choose between replacing my old gas water heater with a new gas one or switching to a heat pump electric model. My gas one was 12 years old and starting to leak a little. The heat pump cost $1,200 more upfront but my local utility in Austin had a $500 rebate and federal tax credits knocked off another 30%. I went with the heat pump because I wanted to cut my natural gas use for climate reasons. It took about 2 weeks to notice my electric bill jump up in summer since it pulls heat from the basement air, but then winter came and it actually made my gas furnace run less. The thing is noisy when it's running hard, like a window AC unit, and it takes up more floor space. Has anyone else made this switch and seen their power bill change more than they expected?

3 comments

3 Comments

uma_nguyen2418d agoMost Upvoted

I live in a hot climate like Austin and tried a heat pump water heater for about 6 months before I switched back to gas. My electric bill went up $45 a month in summer because it was dumping cold air into my garage and making the AC work harder to fight it. The noise was also a big deal it sounded like a loud fridge hum that drove me crazy in my utility room. For me the climate savings didn't add up when I looked at the extra energy use and the higher upfront cost even with rebates. Gas is simpler and cheaper in my experience and I don't buy the idea that one option is always better for the planet. You might have had better luck but I think people oversell these heat pumps without talking about the downsides.

cameron42618d ago

Sounds like the heat pump just moved the problem somewhere else.

graym4918d agoMost Upvoted

Man @cameron426 you're not wrong, that's exactly what happened to my buddy Tom. He put one in his garage in Phoenix and his AC ran like 2 extra hours a day just keeping the house cool because the heat pump was basically a cheap air conditioner blowing cold into his garage. He said the electric bill jumped about $60 in July and the noise was this constant low hum that you could hear through the wall into his living room. He noped out after 3 months and went back to a regular gas unit.