Quote:
Originally Posted by jeffk
Here's something to think about with hot water heat pumps. They pull heat out of the surrounding air. That means that if they are in your basement, which is already cool in the winter, it will be even colder. Colder basement means colder floors on the first floor. This is a comfort factor (cold feet), plus, you may have to turn your heat up to feel warm enough, which counters savings from the hot water heat pump. The only solution would be to insulate the ceiling of the basement and if you don't care how cold your basement is. I use my basement for several purposes so I actually heat it a bit to keep it at 60 degrees in the winter, which also keeps the first floor floors noticeably warmer and more comfortable.
If the hot water heater is on the first floor, it will draw heat from the air you are trying to heat in the winter. No cold floors but your house heating system will have to replace the heat.
To me, the hot water heat pumps sound more like a warm climate solution.
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I my situation it would work perfectly because I have my boiler in my crawl space which has a cement floor and foam insulated walls. It stays very warm in my crawl space all winter long so pulling heat from it would be a big savings along with shutting the boiler down completely in the summer.
But, as I said, I have yet to find a heat pump water heater short enough to fit in my crawl space.
I have a tankless in my boiler which works fine but I would prefer to shut my boiler down in the summer which would keep the crawl space cooler and help to keep the home cooler.
My other option is to install a shorty indirect water tank, but that would still require my boiler to run all summer.