cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/34021020
I recently installed an Emporia Vue with monitoring for the individual circuit my water heater is on. It captured the very significant difference in energy usage from replacing resistive heat with heat pump.
First, from all the ones I’ve installed, they have all been all in one units with the heat pump on top of the tank that use the room air as the source. Not saying split hp water heaters don’t exist, I just haven’t seen any. The install for these units is practically identical to a standard electric water heater except you need to pipe a drain for the condensate.
The ones I’ve seen also include a resistive element and can act in a hybrid mode where they heat the water mostly with the heat pump, but can use resistive to boost the temp.