this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2024
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I had never heard of this so I had to Google. It seems the advantages you are talking about don't all necessarily apply if your water heater is outside then, right? I mean, I guess it'll be a bit more energy efficient, but cooling and dehumidifying effects are only if the water heater is indoors, correct? There is not a system to do any sort of interior cooling for outdoor water heaters, no?
Forgive me if these are stupid questions. I hadn't heard about this type of water heater before. I live in a hot climate, but my water heater is in an outdoor storage closet.
Yes, it's for a water heater being inside with sufficient ventilation. If your water heater is currently in a garage or separate area the benefits change.
I'm in Texas, and over 90% of the houses I've seen have the water heater in a closet somewhere inside. Some older builds have it in an attached garage. But if that is the case, there's a good reason to move it when you next replace it, as the garage gets much colder in the winter, costing more to heat the water!
Oh that is true but most of them have systems where you can attach tubes to the inputs and outputs and with enough redneck engineering (which is my upcoming plan once I finish a few other jobs) you can rig up a system to optionally either vent the cooled air outside or with a damper switch have it blow into the air intake of my AC system.
This is easier for me since my water heater is right next to the air intake for my HVAC system.
But, alternatively during the winter you have the option of switching over to traditional electric and even though that will negate the energy savings from the hybrid system it will prevent energy waste from cooling the air that you paid to heat.
I've been looking into this (along with some other options like tankless) since my water heater is the next major appliances due for replacement.
Depending on the efficiency of your HVAC and water heater; it might still be cheaper to heat twice (water heater makes water hot & inside air cold; then HVAC makes inside air hot & outside cold). If your efficiency at the HVAC stage is more than double (most modern heat pumps give 3x to 4x efficiency; that's both in the water heater and HVAC). It gets a bit complicated; but the short answer is when it's efficient enough the switch between modes for the hot water heater might not be necessary.
Longer answer; is you need to know the difference in performance of the water heater. Ex. your heating costs go from $10/mo with heat pump to $20/mo with electric element (obviously if gas is the alternate heat source that adds another conversion...). If the marginal increase in HVAC cost is less than that $10/mo difference, there's no need to switch the hot water heater between modes!
Undecided (you tube channel) has a few videos covering the basics that are worth a watch if you're starting to look into the topic, but since you've already been doing research, maybe it's all material you know? Quick link: https://www.instagram.com/undecidedmf/p/C4IrcBOsT_p/
Edit adding a better link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abGiNL9IT54&vl=en