The tech costs more than conventional options upfront, but federal tax credits, new 120V models and strong savings have made them more appealing than ever.
We’re doing a major bathroom remodel at the moment and as part of the project are planning to replace the 15 year old electric water heater that came with the house when we bought it. Heat pumps work by exchanging heat from the air around to the water in the tank, which means that in addition to reducing humidity they also put out cool air. Usually they are installed in a garage or basement where that doesn’t matter as much, but we don’t have a basement and putting it in the garage would require a lot more work in terms of plumbing and electrical work, so we’re going to keep it where it is in the house but install vents that exchange air from the attic in the winter, then in the summer we can flip open the vents and cool/dehumidify our house.
They’re expensive up front but there are federal tax credits through 2032 (I think) of up to 30% of the project cost ($2000 max) and on top of that our local electric company is offering rebates of $800 to replace an electric or gas heater with an air pump. So that will reduce the upfront cost by a pretty good amount.
The only thing I’m at all concerned about is the noise of the motor, but the heater won’t be adjacent to any bedrooms so I don’t think it’ll be a big problem in any case.
We’re doing a major bathroom remodel at the moment and as part of the project are planning to replace the 15 year old electric water heater that came with the house when we bought it. Heat pumps work by exchanging heat from the air around to the water in the tank, which means that in addition to reducing humidity they also put out cool air. Usually they are installed in a garage or basement where that doesn’t matter as much, but we don’t have a basement and putting it in the garage would require a lot more work in terms of plumbing and electrical work, so we’re going to keep it where it is in the house but install vents that exchange air from the attic in the winter, then in the summer we can flip open the vents and cool/dehumidify our house.
They’re expensive up front but there are federal tax credits through 2032 (I think) of up to 30% of the project cost ($2000 max) and on top of that our local electric company is offering rebates of $800 to replace an electric or gas heater with an air pump. So that will reduce the upfront cost by a pretty good amount.
The only thing I’m at all concerned about is the noise of the motor, but the heater won’t be adjacent to any bedrooms so I don’t think it’ll be a big problem in any case.