Heat Pumps vs. Electric Hot Water Debate

Are heat pumps worth it? Mark debates with Karl Jensen from iStore about heat pumps versus old-school electric element tanks. Turns out the results are surprising!

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[Yorick_Mark]

Great video. Got rid of my instantaneous gas hot water system and installed a heat pump. Now running it 100% of PV and batteries. Also no more running out mid-shower to change over the bottle when it runs empty.

[simonh]

Installed an Istore in parents in laws place in Nundle, which regularly gets frosts. The local electrician said it wouldn’t work. After a year and a very cold winter it’s worked faultlessly. The lesson I’ve learned is that often local trades don’t want to try something they havnt worked with before. We have had Sanden heatpump hot water split systems in tenterfield for 10 years now and they work well in our very cold climate.

[singhonkar]

Could you please compare with gas heating system vs heat pump water system ?

[Xonikz]

In the US here. I have a 50gal heat pump water heater. For our household it works fine, venting the "cold" air into a basement cold storage room. The hardest part about the design of my installed unit is replacing the sacrificial anode, which I should be doing this year to keep up with the hard water buildup from our well. Everything else has worked well for 4 yrs so far. Uses about a tenth of the amount of power we were using on the old electric resistance watertank.

[sage]

got a heatpump 18 months ago in melbourne. use a simple timer device to align it with my solar panels output as well as off-peak electricty costs. works a treat!

[Ryanhothersall]

Installed the 180 litre Istore heat pump earlier this year and at the same time did away with the gas connection to the house alogether. With the solar sponge tariff here in Adelaide, even on a cloudy day, it doesn't cost much to heat the water. Having 12.9 kw of solar helps.

[milesbuckhurst]

My air to water heat pump is now nearly 20years old and as efficient as the day we installed it (modern ones are better) We live in Norway so we have a different type of extreme weather. But I’m guessing it has to work harder plus all heating is from the same unit (under floor). Love it! And it has for sure paid for itself. Next one will be ground source.

[peterbignell]

Basic electric hot water hands down for me. I've had 2 heat pump systems (rheem and thermann) and both crapped themselves around the 4 to 5 year mark (just outside warranty). Very expensive to repair ( so there goes the money you THINK you have saved) that's if you can find a serviceman who knows what he's doing. If anything goes wrong with my electric system I can change the element and thermostat in 20 minutes for $70.

[stephengentle]

I’ve got a Reclaim heat pump, it’s great. Uses just 2 kWh of energy each day from solar. I’ve been really happy with it, it works well!

[jasonbrowne]

I still run a 24 Tube Evacuated Tube collector and Stainless Steel tank. System has been flawless for 15 years now and still going strong. We only boost on average 5 days a year at most. $6000 initial outlay for 15 years of hit water, has been good value for us.

[einfelder]

This comparison is ridiculous. No-one pays over $4000 for a standard electric hot water service, most people don't have solar, and most thinking Australians will not outlay over $5000 for a heat pump (by the way, they are very noisy when the AC unit is running) to save the environment. In my case, I was thinking of replacing my gas HWS with a pump unit, the quote was $5500 AFTER rebates. We use about $20 worth of gas per month. Can you explain how forking out big bucks for a heat pump (which has damaged the environment already by being manufactured) can save me any money. My gas HWS lasts our household about 18-20 years.

[hrider]

Sanden heat pump in Sydney runs during the day on mostly of solar.

[sparkzhu]

howlong the lifespan is for the heat pump? If you google the heat pump hot water, most people complian about it's failure after 3 or 4 years.

[twinrotors]

Do heat pumps not need a solar timer or relay?

[fastbike]

We installed flat plate collectors with a small pump/controller and a storage tank with two backup immersion elements (one about a third from, the other a third from bottom). Was a little spendy at the time (2002) but that has disappeared with general inflation. Provides approx 90% of hot water for 8 months and about 50% in the winter, acting as a pre heater.
Now looking to put solar PV on the front part of the roof.

[spyrule]

In Canada here, and my HeatPump hot water system uses 800w when running in ECO mode (heat pump only). This is ~3200W Less then the average all electric tank sold in Canada (where our inlet water temps can be as cold as 1-5'c). My previous tank was Gas, and it was costing me ~1200/yr in heating costs, besides my gas powered furnace (which has also been replaced with a cold climate heat pump heater/ac unit). My total gas bill each year (with taxes and tarriffs, was ~ $5600/yr). My new system, Even on full heating (excluding the backup unit, which on average will only run 1-2 weeks/yr), will cost me $2800/yr. It will take me about 12 years to amortize the savings for both hot water tank AND HVAC unit replacement. Next year, I add Solar, and that will drop my amortization period to ~6-7 yrs. Going Heat pump is TOTALLY worth it, but it does have a high up-front cost in Canada ATM (my all in price for both units, including electrical work, panel upgrade, etc, is $40k). So obviously future replacement will be cheaper, as I'll have the infrastructure in place to be all electric, and I'll have PV then. The numbers simply don't favor old-school resistive tanks anymore.

[mickwolf]

Well the manufacturer should build in redundancy, fit a resistive element in the tank also so if and when the heat pump components die they could fall back to that to heat the water, the tank could still be serviceable. And with the way solar feed in tariffs are going with lower rates and to the point it costs you money to feed in, they could direct excess solar electricity into the resistive element to heat up water faster if needed.

[jezza]

Hey, i am looking at putting in a solar system ATM and was considering the catch relay. from these calculations here you did not add that to the Heat pump system. i have a heat pump HW tank is the catch system not recommended with a heat pump system?

[edvoon]

Are there any state rebates for upgrading home hot water systems? I'm in NSW and I know there is a rebate to upgrade old element hot water systems to new heat pump systems, but not sure that rebate extends to gas systems.

[BrentHeberAusNZ]

Excellent advocacy Karl and interesting to see Mark admitting that sometimes a more complex technology can produce better overall outcomes….