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Re: Heat pump electric hot water tank and woodstove anyone? Posted by ELaw [Email] (#699) [Profile/Gallery] (more from ELaw) on Fri, 12 Apr 2013 16:23:57 In Reply to: Heat pump electric hot water tank and woodstove anyone?, Brian, Fri, 12 Apr 2013 14:39:43 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
I really don't get what's supposed to be so wonderful about heat pump water heaters, except maybe in very warm climates.
A heat pump moves heat from one place to another. In this case, it moves heat from the air in the room it's situated in to the water. In other words it heats the water by removing heat from the house.
So whenever you're heating the house, the heating system is going to have to make up that heat. And what you end up doing is very indirectly (and inefficiently) heating the water with your heating system.
Now if the house is air conditioned, you do benefit during cooling season - the A/C won't have to run as much. But I doubt that would offset the increased heating bills.
My suggestion: first and foremost if you want to reduce your energy bills, insulate the house more. Our house is 2600 square feet, and has a lot of what normally would be energy-losing features like large windows and a great room with a cathedral ceiling. But it's very well insulated, and during a typical year here in MA we'd only go through about 2-1/2 tanks of oil. That was before we switched to geothermal heating/cooling... now our electric bill is considerably higher but we use zero oil!
->Posting last edited on Fri, 12 Apr 2013 16:24:43.
_______________________________________ Eric Law Current collection: '12 Audi A4 quattro (self-tuned) '14 Audi A6 quattro (also self-tuned) Gone but not forgotten: '72 99, '77 99 (became a turbo, twice) '80 900T 5-door, '81 900T, '86 900S (became a turbo), '86 900 SPG '86 9000, '97 9000 Aero A bunch of Audis, '69 Firebird, '64 Toyota Corona (first car, cost $35 and worth every penny) Be alert... America needs more lerts!
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