Heat pump water heater

[Brian E. Kelly]

Anyone seen these?????


http://www.airgenerate.com/

[Michael Larson]

AirTap™ A7
AirTap™ is an attachable water heater for your gas or electric water tank that uses ambient air to draw heat and raise your water temperature up to 130°F. This significantly reduces your energy bill each month and is the most efficient means of heating water for your household.

The AirTap™ has been designed for a relatively quick, easy installation onto your existing water heater. Please take a few minutes and review the installation demo provided on our website.



$699.00

[Brian E. Kelly]

I know that much silly Michael. I guess my question is do they work as advertised?

[Bruce A. King]

Good idea they have there.

The savings calculator they have uses an electric cost that is about 3 cents per kwh higher than what I pay. They say payback is about 4 years for me.

I did not see what type of refrigerant this thing uses either.

I would buy one if it was about half the cost.

[Michael Larson]

Originally Posted by bkelly2

I know that much silly Michael. I guess my question is do they work as advertised?

I didn't post that for you silly.

They are a heat pump so they probably work fine.

Some good info from Amazon customer reviews

My thoughts.

Using inside air as a source for a heat pump would make no sense in the winter when you are heating your home as the unit discharges cold air.

Payback would depend on you cost of heating water now.

I would think gas or oil heated water would produce very long payback times for this application.

Here is their savings calculator

They had the price of gas for my area at over twice what I pay so check your input numbers carefully.

[David P. Valley]

If your paying twice the amount for this (so called...more efficient) water heater than you would for a traditional water heater, then where's the savings?

[David A. Andersen]

The location of the unit makes it a heat reclaimer. Heat loss from the water heater would be put back into the water.

Like any non-conventional heating source (geothermal, solar, heat pump etc.), it costs more initially.

[Doug Edwards, CMI]

Over the years I have seen countless "heat recovery" systems installed on typical HVAC / heat pumps (only one that used the water heater as the heat source for heating the home). All but one had been abandoned and cut out of the system because, according to the homeowners, they did not work as advertised, not serviceable and the gain was not appreciable. The only exception has been those that were geothermal and those are as rare as hen's teeth here.

[Brian E. Kelly]

Thanks guys.

[Frank P. Newman]

I would only consider such a device in climates where the ambient air is warm to hot most of the year. Then, it would have to be located in an unconditioned space in the home. Might be worth the money then (if natural gas is not available).