Thread: Hybrid water heater - heat pump

I saw my first installed Heat Pump water heater today. Obviously, it was the first this plumber had seen also.
After reading up on the requirements there were things I caught immediately and some I didn't but should have.
For your edification!
This was in new construction and added as an afterthought due to the difficulty of getting the bvent for the intended gas fired units out through the roof.

IMGP5752.JPGIMGP5750.JPGIMGP5751.JPG

The issues I called out were Lack of ventilation, and lack of condensate drains.
Since it is a heat pump which pumps cold air into the closet, it needs ventilation. Rheem calls for 1000 Cubic feet of free area for each unit. Also, it is going to produce condensation so drain lines are needed just like an air conditioner.
Also, they had already corrected the breaker size but just note if you see one they require sizing by the data plate rather than wire size just like a central air unit.

Jim... I could be mistaken (that would only be the second time today!), but I don't think hybrid water heaters are intended to be installed in a conditioned space. They take heat out of the air, which in the winter means the homeowner is forcing their heating system to indirectly heat their water. I understood the proper place for them is in a garage or similar non-conditioned space. Caveat... I'm in western Washington, and installation details in a really cold climate might be different.

Originally Posted by Tom Iovanne

Jim... I could be mistaken (that would only be the second time today!), but I don't think hybrid water heaters are intended to be installed in a conditioned space.

They can be installed in such a location if specific steps are taken to address that issue. See the steps in the attached install guide screen shot.

Dom.

Here's a link to the Rheem installation guide.
http://cdn.globalimageserver.com/fet...e-manual-16244

Originally Posted by Tom Iovanne

Jim... I could be mistaken (that would only be the second time today!), but I don't think hybrid water heaters are intended to be installed in a conditioned space. They take heat out of the air, which in the winter means the homeowner is forcing their heating system to indirectly heat their water. I understood the proper place for them is in a garage or similar non-conditioned space. Caveat... I'm in western Washington, and installation details in a really cold climate might be different.

Yes, this was in a non-conditioned area, a closet in the garage.

Those resemble the ones I used to see installed in the garages of larger houses in South Florida built back in the late 1980's to mid 1990's - they heated the water in the water heater while cooling the garage.

Rich man's way to keep his garage cool and heat his water too.

After many premature failures (less than 5 years or so) they got tired of those and installed regular water heaters and air conditioners for their garages (those things made quite a bit of noise in the garage too because the compressor unit was on top of the water heater and the garage was one big echo chamber.

Look to be similar units - heat the water, cool the garage (closet in the case shown, and it seems that doing so in a closet would be like trying to air condition a bedroom by sticking a wall unit through the wall and into the closet ... there is only so much ability in the closet to dissipate heat, or in this case, only so much ability of the closet to take heat from).