HPWH are fine in warm climates but when you’re heating your home and then using that heat to heat water via the pump, some of that efficiency is lost. In the UK and lots of Europe chances are the heat comes from a gas boiler and then the air is the source for the HPWH.
We need to see more external condenser models.
Yep, that’s the key issue with indoor HPWHs in cold climates - they’re essentially “stealing” heat you already paid for. Modern split-system models with external condensers solve this, maintaining efficiency even in winter. They do need more power on startup though, so if you’re considering one check out power station options on gearscouts.com for backup during outages. The newer LFP-based units offer better $/Wh value for this kind of application.
They do need more power on startup though
Wouldn’t inverter HVACs avoid this issue too? As far as I understand, they don’t have a large power draw on startup due to not using a single stage compressor, which runs only at max capacity
In a lot of homes in the US, water heaters are in basements that frequently get too humid, so being able to have dehumidifaction as a byproduct is a huge plus. It would definitely be cool to have a system that could be switched seasonally, though.
I’m happy with Zojirushi
