I’m in California, on NEM 2.0 for 8 more years unless NEM 3 gets rescinded. I also want to switch out my water heater to eliminate most of my fossil fuel burning, but instead of solar thermal I’ve been looking at heat pump water heaters. Much easier and cheaper to install, even with having to run a 240V line across the garage. If you currently have an electric resistance water heater, going with heat pump is a drop-in replacement and uses much, much less energy.
There are 120V HPWHs now too. Depending on your water use and incoming water temps, it could be an even cheaper solution since you might avoid the wiring run.
Yeah, but they tend to be lower efficiency (UEF 3.0) and CA rebate program requires UEF 3.3 or higher, which apparently you can only get by switching to the higher voltage.
Edit: to clarify, I was referring to the California state rebate of $700 or $900 (depending on capacity) taken off the purchase price at checkout. The federal tax credit of 30% applies to the 120V drop-in replacement as well as the 240V models.
There are a few over 3.3 on the ESTAR product finder, and I think this is just a reflection that these products are new and there aren’t that many out there. It’s all a bit dumb since a 240V can be run in hybrid/high output/electric resistance mode and kill your efficiency, but the 120V are usually HP only and they have the exact same compressor since they only need like 800watts in HP mode, so there’s no reason for their efficiency to be lower whatsoever. Do what you need to do to get that incentive money though.
I checked Home Depot today and, oddly, all the Rheem 240V models are selling for less than the 120V models of the same capacity, even before rebates.
If I do get a 240V model, I certainly would just disable the resistance heating mode, which all the Rheem models (and probably all models, period) have the option to do.
I’m in California, on NEM 2.0 for 8 more years unless NEM 3 gets rescinded. I also want to switch out my water heater to eliminate most of my fossil fuel burning, but instead of solar thermal I’ve been looking at heat pump water heaters. Much easier and cheaper to install, even with having to run a 240V line across the garage. If you currently have an electric resistance water heater, going with heat pump is a drop-in replacement and uses much, much less energy.
There are 120V HPWHs now too. Depending on your water use and incoming water temps, it could be an even cheaper solution since you might avoid the wiring run.
Yeah, but they tend to be lower efficiency (UEF 3.0) and CA rebate program requires UEF 3.3 or higher, which apparently you can only get by switching to the higher voltage.
Edit: to clarify, I was referring to the California state rebate of $700 or $900 (depending on capacity) taken off the purchase price at checkout. The federal tax credit of 30% applies to the 120V drop-in replacement as well as the 240V models.
There are a few over 3.3 on the ESTAR product finder, and I think this is just a reflection that these products are new and there aren’t that many out there. It’s all a bit dumb since a 240V can be run in hybrid/high output/electric resistance mode and kill your efficiency, but the 120V are usually HP only and they have the exact same compressor since they only need like 800watts in HP mode, so there’s no reason for their efficiency to be lower whatsoever. Do what you need to do to get that incentive money though.
I checked Home Depot today and, oddly, all the Rheem 240V models are selling for less than the 120V models of the same capacity, even before rebates.
If I do get a 240V model, I certainly would just disable the resistance heating mode, which all the Rheem models (and probably all models, period) have the option to do.