Tried switching to a heat pump water heater and my electric bill went up 30 percent

I got a Rheem heat pump water heater installed back in June. The tax credits looked good and I wanted to lower my carbon footprint. But after three months my electric bill is actually higher than it was with my old gas water heater. I live in a basement in Ohio so it stays pretty cool down there. The unit pulls heat out of the air and then my furnace has to run more to heat the space back up. Has anyone else dealt with this or did I just pick the wrong setup?

2 comments

2 Comments

blair6261mo agoTop Commenter

Wait didnt you read the manual before buying it? I saw a video from a HVAC guy on YouTube saying those things are basically designed for warm basements not cold ones. The whole point is it steals heat from the air around it, so if your basement is like 55 degrees in the winter its gonna struggle hard and pull even more heat out. That means your furnace has to kick on more to replace that lost heat, so you end up paying double. Ive heard people say they work great in garages in Florida or Texas but up north theyre a total ripoff unless youve got a heated basement already. Maybe look into wrapping the tank in extra insulation or putting it in a different spot if possible.

evant481mo ago

Man, that is exactly what I was wondering too, but nobody seems to talk about it. So if the whole point is stealing heat, doesnt that mean it only really helps when the air around it is already warm? Like, doesnt it just make your furnace work harder in a cold basement, which cancels out any savings? What kind of temperature does your basement actually sit at in the dead of winter, because that seems like the make or break number right there. I keep hearing people say to just wrap it in a blanket but that cant fix the fact that it needs warm air to run right. Have you actually checked your electric bill vs your gas bill since you put it in, or are you just guessing at the savings?