I cant speak of the new ones on the market. Ours is a 50 gal HPWH GE from 2008 one of the first ones out GE had a trial test and I was at the right place at the right time. I think the test units were built in Louisville and the production models ended up being made in China. We have not had the first issue still going strong and only uses around 400 watts. I would not go back to a normal waterheater. I have read the next generation HPWH will run on 120v hopefully ours will make it till then.
My experience with hybrid water heaters and a warning to stay away from AO Smith hybrid water heaters
- Thread starter Rennit
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Ampster
Renewable Energy Hobbyist
That can be the best choice if your cost of more panels is reasonable. I do have access to some used panels at very little cost but now need to find space for racking. I also need to use micros so that adds to the cost. Adding panels may take me over the 1kW which I am alllowed but if I rund the HPWH from 11AM until 3PM my Net Peak generaton will not exceed the value PG&E has for the capacity of my system.
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I'm in the same boat on nem 2.0 w/ PGE. You can offload pv direct and it won't go against your system, that includes the hot water heating. Doing two 2 ton EG4 a/c heat pump systems w/ 5k solar pv direct and pv direct and heat pump hot water system.
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efficientPV
Solar Wizard
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I have a very old Nyletherm unit which is an external HP and bought one for a friend as a divorce present. Thet were only $350 shipped, but only had a COP of around 2 like they all had at that time. Mine and his are still both running. He replaced his with a NYLE e8 unit #4 off the assembly line. They asked him to ship his old one back. They couldn't believe it was still running. I supplement mine with resistance from 500W of test panels. At camp it is all pure resistance heating whenever there is excess for my 3 water heaters. That setup is super efficient and cost next to nothing. The expense to up sizing my equipment to even run a HPWH just can't be justified. I know some people seem to wash elephants, but my needs aren't that high. The excess power is pretty reliable so we can have 60C water for the dishwasher and hot water for all cycles of clothes washer. Doing things right has advantages over easy.
I had a GE hybrid. junk. I now have a 6 year old ao smith hybrid. started having ECC code issues. I just sprayed coil cleaner on the coils and so far after 3 days looking good. we'll see. Maintenance is important. flushing annually. I should replace the buried anode rod but need family to be on vacation because I know I will be cursing a lot for that one!
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