Heat Pump Water Heaters

How does a hybrid heat pump water heater work?

HPWH Diagram

Heat pump water heaters use electricity to move heat from one place to another instead of generating heat directly. Therefore, they can be two to three times more energy efficient than conventional electric resistance water heaters. To move the heat, heat pumps work like a refrigerator in reverse.

While a refrigerator pulls heat from inside a box and dumps it into the surrounding room, a stand-alone air-source heat pump water heater pulls heat from the surrounding air and dumps it — at a higher temperature — into a tank to heat water.

Heat pump water heaters require installation in locations that remain in the 40º–90ºF range year-round and provide at least 1,000 cubic feet of air space around the water heater. Cool exhaust air can be exhausted in the room or outdoors. Install them in a space with excess heat, such as a furnace room. Heat pump water heaters will not operate as efficiently in a cold space. They tend to cool the spaces they are in.

The unit eligible in this EEUP is a stand-alone heat pump water heating system with an integrated heat pump unit enclosed in a built-in water storage tank with backup resistance heating elements.