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A coworker told me switching to a heat pump water heater would cut my electric bill by a third
My neighbor Greg at the supply house kept pushing heat pump water heaters for months, so I finally swapped out my old electric one in March. After 4 months of tracking bills, my electric usage dropped from 450 kWh a month to about 290 kWh for water heating alone. That's roughly 35 percent savings like he said, but the catch is it makes my basement noticeably colder in the winter. Has anyone else dealt with that extra heating load issue with these things?
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faith_carter8d ago
Wait, are you sure the drop in your electric bill wasn't just from the warmer weather in spring? I'm not convinced these things actually save you money once you factor in making your furnace work harder to make up for all the cold air they blow out. Plus my buddy installed one and his recovery time for hot water is way slower than his old tank, so he's running it longer to fill the tub. Seems like a wash to me when you add up the total heating season costs, especially if you're in a colder climate.
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miles2798d ago
Ha, yeah you're probably right. I'm the guy who thinks he's saving money by buying a bulk pack of socks then loses half of them in the dryer. But seriously, I've been tracking my gas bill like a hawk after our install, and the dip was way bigger than the usual spring warmup. Maybe 15-20 bucks a month different. Though I did catch my wife cranking the thermostat after showers now, so that probably eats some of the savings.
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