GE Hybrid Water Heater

Our existing water heater was down to one element (broken one at bottom was rusted into place) after 14 years of service.

Read about the new GE Hybrid technology on 11/17 (never knew that it was even in the works until now) and being in the Cincinnati area; was in a limited availability area and able to get this installed today 11/20.

It took 3 guys around 3 hours to install (this is new for them as well) and took more work than a regular water heater. The most difficult aspect was the intake and outlet pipe had to be reworked into an "L" shape so that there was room to allow the air filter to be removed. You definitely want to be experienced with soldering pipes etc if you were to do this yourself. Our house is older, so we also needed an 60A electrical line installed to replace the 2x20A we had in place (included in installation costs).

After government credit, this will come out to $1536 installed. Our other option was $750 for a standard 12 year warranty GE 50 gallon unit installed; so effectively a $800 premium for this more energy efficient model.

Unit looks really hi tech and the noise level is acceptable (probably similar to a regular 20" floor fan on low/medium  - a washer or dryer is much louder in comparison).

Jury is still out on how much this will save over the long run and how reliable it is (I'm sure GE will bend over backwards if there are any teething issues with the new technology)

Not expecting to get the full advertised efficiency savings in Ohio over winter; but do expect to recoop the extra cost over the next few years & support US innovation and jobs in Lousiville/KY in the meantime.

For those needing a new water heater; this unit should be given serious consideration.

I may provide an update in a few months after we have some experience with it in use for some time. Very hard to give an accurate rating at this point in time...... (so far all is well)

I do not own this particular water heater. I have owned a very similar heat pump water heater for the past 7 years (ECR Wattersaver). My water heater has the same capacity (50 gallons) and a very similar energy factor (ECR = 2.47, GE = 2.35). Unlike a conventional water heater which takes all its energy from an outside source (natural gas, propane, or electricity), this water heater uses electricity to move and concentrate heat from the surrounding air to heat water. Because the outside energy source is electricity, the primary energy source for generating the electricity can be renewable. In our home we have enough solar electric capacity to meet all our annual energy. If, on the other hand, your electricity source is primarily coal there will be no net environmental benefit of this water heater compared to using a high-efficiency natural gas water heater. If you are replacing an existing electric water heater your environmental impact and your energy cost will be substantially lower with a heat pump water heater.
If you are heating water with propane this water heater will substantially lower your cost of water heating.
According to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy a heat pump water heater has the lowest lifecycle cost of any method of water heating (http://www.aceee.org/Consumerguide/waterheating.htm)

As compared with a solar water heater, which can typically only provide 1/2 to 2/3 of your water heating energy, a heat pump water heater when combined with solar electricity and provide 100% of your water heating energy from a renewable source.

For 2 adults our annual electricity use is approximately 700 kwh. We have time-of-use electric rates so if we had to pay for the electricity our annual cost would be $60 per year (at $085 per kwh). Our previous water heater used about 130 therms which at current natural gas prices would cost about $130 per year.
We have our water heater on a timer and mostly run the water heater during times when electric rates are low. The water heater takes at least twice as long to heat water as did the natural gas water heater. We have the water heater in our laundry room which we have thermally isolated from the rest of the house so that we don't cannibalize heat from the rest of the house would increase space heating energy use for the rest of the house. We keep the laundry room window open so that the water heater can take in heat from the outside air. Otherwise the laundry room would get too cool and the efficiency of the water heater would drop.

From the pictures and literature this water heater is attractive and has sophisticated and convenient controls. It also has a smart grid interface so as your local utility adds smart grid capability this water heater could support it. In smart grid mode the utility could send commands to the water heater to reduce its energy use during times of high load.

I had a long talk with Mike Racculia, a marketing manager with GE. He was able to answer many of my questions and give me confidence in GE's support for this project.

Based on my research this is a solid, high-quality product. The federal government offers a 30% tax credit for heat pump water heaters. I think that all electric resistance water heater should be replace with heat pumps and that in the long run heat pumps should be used for all water heating.