(Updated Review 2021)How much $$$ does a Rheem Hybrid Water Heater really save you, if any ? 

In central Florida, cost me $86 to run in the entire 2020. The old unit cost me nearly $400 the previous year. Not only did I save a significant amount to heat water, I also increased the capacity from 50 gallons to 80 gallons. It was a win for me... (self installed too)

I installed one of these in a friend's house down in Iowa, he loves it!! Keeps the humidity in his unfinished basement down so no need for a dedicated dehumidifier.

I initially had the same problem you had with the cold basement. The fixed that problem by venting the exhaust air outside, which hugely fixed the cold basement problem. During the summertime, i disconnect the vent so the cold air vent into the basement to help dehumidify the air. Here in MA, they offer a $600 rebate for my specific unit. My initial cost was $1200 and after the rebate, the unit only cost me $600 which is about the same as a regular electric water heater. I also run my unit on a scheduler also, which greatly increased my savings.

I bought this water heater ru-vid.comUgkx8G49mV71sAzUl9shXyLW-r3XgHH9EVh1 for use in my bus conversion. I installed it under my kitchen sink and it is fed by a high efficiency on-demand LP water heater. It is both a backup hot water source as well as a water saving device since we have hot water on demand rather than having to wait for the gas on demand water heater to finish its ignition cycle. I decided on this water heater due to the fact that it only draws 1300watts when it's ON instead of the 1500 watts that most Water heaters this size draw. In an RV a couple hundred watts can be a big deal. With very low standby losses, I don't have to worry about excessive power consumption. When propane is not available for our gas water heater, in conjunction with our low flow shower head there is enough hot water available to shower, albeit we won't be taking "hotel showers." Also very happy with the recovery rate of this water heater. Granted, it is quite small, but it does exactly what we need it to do.

I installed one of these a few years back myself. Unfortunately, it didn't come with an app. There was a wifi module that was several hundred dollars extra, and still no app with that, it basically just allowed a water detection alarm during a leak. Glad to hear they fixed that. Because the high efficiency mode is useless without being able to manually schedule the temperature. Like you, the water was always luke warm. It works great in high demand mode though which ironically was the customer support recommendation, just run it in high demand she said. We are in Texas, and what some people do is put a duct on the output of the unit that splits off to outdoors and indoors, and you baffle off indoors during winter and outdoors during summer.

Nice video a little long. Heres a few ideas. 1) Create ducting to move less dense air (warmer air closer to the ceiling) down into the intake (top of your HWH). 2) Exhaust cooler air coming out of the side through an insulated pipe venting to the outside. Check angle to make sure air that might be condensing is running toward the exit not toward the HWH. 3) During spring and summer you can basically reverse this giving you free A/C. I live in Texas and I pull from the hot attic and vent into the house. In the winter the air is vented into the garage. I keep water at 130 and it never runs out and have knocked a solid 12-18% off my electric bill a month.

An instant rebate from Central Hudson made the price $678 in Nov 2019 at Home Depot for this item. Installation cost $588 (which also included removing the existing water heater and condensate pump) for a total cost of $1266. Lives in the unfinished part of the basement with an oil furnace so cooling is a non-issue. Set to 125 degrees in energy saving mode and have never run out of hot water! Electric savings will pay total price in 2021.

Appreciate your video explanation very good and learning to use it correctly. I instruct students and contractors in HVAC. You only need to vent the cold air outside to solve the problem, and you are definitely able to do it . For some of my customers I vent into a foam instalation walk in for wine , vegetables , fruit ,etc. year round. Finally these units can be installed on the first or second floor near shower area ( laundry room in my second floor) for master bath and common bath. Again great job!!!!

I think your mistake was choosing too small a unit. I picked the 80 gallon (for a 4 person household). Secondly, perhaps the better option for you is to vent the unit outside in winter months so that the cold air is not being pumped into your room. I exhaust mine into a server rack to keep all my AV equipment cool and that more than takes care of the problem, in fact by time the air leaves the top of the rack it's generally at room temp.

Great information, though I’ve seen higher cost savings in other videos, your analysis seems very right. As far as the cooling issue, I saw one case where one installer installed a two way output vent. One way it vent the output to the outdoors during the winter months, then indoors during the heat of the warmer summer months. Seemed like a ideal resolution to me.

Thanks for this information. Facing the need to replace a passive solar water heating panel for the third time in 15 years, at the cost of $3K - I had the solar system removed and am now researching what to replace it with. I live in Florida, the water heater is in the garage and with the benefit of cold air being pumped into the hot garage space, this sounds like the perfect solution.

if you don't want the heat pump to cool up your basement you can always vent out the cool air . thats what I did on my 80 gallons hybrid . thanks for your videos very well done.. im going to put my water temperature on schedule now thanks to your video. very nice of you ..

Thanks for the info and I appreciate to see the KW savings - very helpful. As for the cold air into the basement the easy answer is to vent it to the outside, just like one does with the dryer etc. I talked to an installer and it seems very easy and inexpensive to do. I was having the same concern since I leave in NY and the venting is the easy solution. I think this year I will be ordering an 80 gallon to replace my current 15 yr old 80-gal electric on (which surprisingly is still working well but I like the savings idea and not to have to replace it as an emergency one of these days lol). Thanks again for helping me with the decision based on savings.

My suggestion is duct the cool air outside if you don’t want it inside. Really simple to duct it. You can also put a two way damper in your duct work to use the cool air in summer and open the damper to the outside vent side in the winter when you don’t want the cool air.

Matt on the channel Build just did a similar comparison on hybrid vs your standard water heater. Comparing the cost savings and if it is worth the cost. His channel Build is the "go to channel" for me and I believe his channel does a great job. Although he and his channel has more experience and access to information you don't have and a team to help him you information and presentation was in my opinion far better for what I was looking for. Am considering installing a new water heater and so glad you put this video up. It was just what I was looking for presented in and outstanding format that I could clearly follow. So thanks for taking the time in making this video.

Great update video! I installed this same rheem about a month ago. These units are louder than I thought it would be. I had to turn on electric mode from 10 pm to 2am because it was keeping me up at night. The water heater is in the garage on the opposite side of the master bedroom. My electric bill runs around 100 in western Oregon. I can't wait to see the electric bill!

Your report on your Rheem Hybrid heat pump was very helpful in getting me closer to which model or heat pump or tankless. I currently have a 220 VAC unit and a Bradford White powered vent unit and both are 25 years old. The electric unit is just starting to weep and soon will throw up.

Very helpful, we get a $500 credit and with your reporting we’re going to pull the trigger. Thanks uou

I just heard about the hybrids and came across your video in my research! I really liked that you explained where you were 6 months ago, what you learned and all your savings research! thank you for helping me make my decision. Too bad you don't live here in FL so you could install it for me!

Hello Mike, I installed my Hybrid back in Nov 2022. My W/H died after a hurricane in SWFL. Your video is what convinced me to purchase the 50gal model and self installed in my garage, so a Big Thanks. We get a lot of sediment in our water so i went a step further and installed a filter before the water enters the tank to cut down on having to flush the tank. It is now May 2024 and I drained and flushed tank for the first time and found no sediment coming out of the bottom out of the tank. I definitely noticed a savings. I havent had any performance issues. I used the app to schedule for our needs and used the OnDemand feature in the morning for 1-2 hours. Only issue Ive come across is occasionally drops off the wifi but reconnects on its own. My next step is to see how the anode rode is holding up. I plan to switch to a powered Anode rod which supposedly will out last the water heater.

One thing that I did not see you account for: In summer you're paying to cool your house down. If you can duct the cold exhaust into the living area, every BTU of cooling you dump there, is a BTU you don't have to pay for, so you can view it as paying for the same cooling you would anyways, and getting free hot water as a byproduct, or you can view it as paying for hot water and getting free cooling, in any case you save twice, once because heating water with a heat pump is 4 times cheaper that resistive electricity and 2 because you get cold/dry air. Additionally I personally needed to run a dehumidifier during winter but because this does the same job now I don't have to, so again I'm getting double savings in winter as well.

consider installing a crypto miner in the basement and the cooling will be free. LOL

So what did your average heating bill do after you installed this? The heat from inside your home is what is actually heating the hot water. Also the 4.0 efficiency for the water heater far exceeds any natural gas heat source when it's at 100 percent efficiency. That changes with temperature. You need to look at the efficiency curve and decide when it's best to switch to the electric mode. It will work in the north too. Just will take longer to cover its own costs. As I watched the video you literally said the same thing. Excellent video and explanation

I had a natural gas On Demand water heater for 15 years. For the cost of a dehumidifier you get hot water when only using the Heat Pump. The cool air is dry air, which you could duct upstairs or outside. We love it.

You might consider installing a mixing valve so that the water temp delivered to your fixtures stays constant despite the change in tank temp. Then you wouldn't tell about the setback. You still benefit from the greater capacity with the higher tank temp but have no scalding risk. Also called a tempering valve.

I would be tempted to be far more aggressive with the setback. You probably only need to heat it once in the morning for showers. There is probably enough hot in the tank for the rest of the day after that. I saved about $25/mth running a standard electric that way.

Thanks for breaking it down, I’m in South Texas and considering the heat pump water heater. My conventional water heater needs to be replaced. One of the pluses I see is the cooling byproduct which would be a welcome in our hot garage. Probably help the 2nd refrigerator be more efficient too, I hope. Thanks!

I installed my Rheem in the garage here in Portland, Oregon. In the Summer I leave the garage door open to my house so we get the benefits of the cool air and in the Winter the door is left closed and the garage remains chilly for the cold food I store in there (root vegetables and fruit). I leave the temperature at 120 for best savings since I have the larger capacity model and we never run out of hot water.

In Florida I think they use black pvc on the roof , a holding tank, and an elec. water pump to circulate.

You can also install a duct that vents to the outside or someplace that you don't care about with possibly a damper so that you can get 'free' air conditioning in the summer.

I live in Minnesota so thank you for this video because I've been looking at installing an electric heat pump / resistance water heater and I was very curious about it cooling down the rooms in my basement. So this video did help. In answer to your question about why not just stay with a gas water heater, the answer is because we have to stop using all gas products. I was astonished the other day to find out that just my house alone and my water heater, which is all I have for gas in my house at this time, put more than a ton of carbon into the air every year. That blows my mind. So I'm on a mission to eliminate all of my gas appliances. In my opinion every house in this country and around the world needs to eliminate all gas products and the sooner the better. Thank you

The dehumidification in the heat pump mode is also a benefit if you live in the south especially if it is in the garage or and attic. It can also convert the heat from my solar power inverter and just driven vehicles to heat my water.

I have had this water heater for a week and a half now and aside from the added noise in my den the cold has not been much of an issue, we are low water use family so I am unsure if that is helping us, but the den is about 2-3 degrees cooler which in some senses works for us because its used as a workout room (with an outside temp of 50) , and it is about 250 square feet. I will say its humming can be heard ( not bad, but a faint hum) in our living room due to the house only being 1200 square feet total and it being inside a converted garage to a den, so its basically inside the house. We are averaging 3.5 to 4 kilowatts a day on energy saver mode and in Washington that is 30-40 cents.

Video on Venting this water heater to consider > ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SHJLvfgpJWg.html Video on how much does hybrid vs resistor mode (normal electric water heater mode) safe you on this unit > ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8TRZEEVEkes.html Video on the Eco Net App > ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mKgP9M-EipA.html Video on how loud is the unit > ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-NQYMfRjfJWM.html Video on Hybrid Water Heater Maintenance > ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iYbIsXKYC_Q.html

we are considering this particular hot water heater. We don't think it will work for us because of the cold air element/where the unit would need to be...this video was excellent. he directly, without going overboard in talking about it, addressed the issues that were on the top of our list thank you

I installed an AO SMITH 50 gallon when I purchased a foreclosure in 2019. My home is all electric and it was installed in a nice sized utility room in our basement. Our electric bill is only 65.00 in months where HVAC is not needed so I would call this a success. In addition to installing this I found low Flo (1.5 bpm) shower heads. My cost to install was $600.00 after utility rebates that applied which was only 100.00 more than a standard. One additional thing I was able do was to dump the dryer vent in this room during the cooler months. I have kept a watch on the humidity in this room and have found it to be kept at 60% in effect recycling the energy that would have been expelled from the home not to mention the negative pressure and drafts that a dryer creates while running.

I installed one of these to replace a perfectly fine gas water heater. The energy guide on this unit says it will cost $104 per year based on 12 cents per KW, which is what I pay. Gas water heater said $263 per year assuming gas at $1.09 per therm. My gas it $1.61 per therm. so my projected cost is more like $385 per year. Seemed like a no-brainer. Actual KW used, measured by the phone app is actually trending to about $400 per year based on two weeks of usage. I live in Sacramento. It almost never freezes here, but it is coldest part of year. Performance does not equal gas unit and extremely doubtful that it will save any money. I definitely would not do it again, if I had the option. Plus, the garage is REALLY cold. In the summer, that will be nice, but not so much in the winter. It is also noisy. You can hear it running in the bedroom next to the garage, where it is located. Bottom line: if you have a gas option, stick with gas.

you could simply attach a flex insulated air-conditioning duct and redirect the cold air from the heat pump outside, or up into the attic, or elsewhere. When you WANT the cool air, simply remove it temporarily.

I have the 80 gallon version and use 4500 gallons a month (not all Hot water) and it cost me .45 cents a day to operate. I also vented exhaust air from heat pump into a y fitting that i can vent outside in the winter time or into the return air of my AHU system for summer and get free cooling from water tank while heating water. Love mine.

Great advice /information , thanks for put in the work !!!

Banger info my guy

I'm not sure what you have going on in the basement but maybe add a refrigerator or an Ice maker next to the water heater. They pump out some heat!

Thanks for this informative video! I'd like to respond to your rhetorical question towards the end-- "Why install a HPWH if you have a gas furnace--just install a gas water heater". The reason is to stop using gas to heat your water as one step in the process to go all electric. That's what I'm doing, starting with water heaters, then I'll replace the gas furnace and AC units with air source heat pumps to do both, then add rooftop solar, induction cooktop, battery backup, EV and charging infrastructure, and be done with both fossil gas and my utility. That's why :)

This is PERFECT for Florida. Having a cool garage. Its like they are meant for each other.

Had the board go out twice and already replaced the top element. It’s 2.5 years old. The unit has a lot of issues. Rheem is okay at sending parts out, but you’ll be without hot water for a week. You may want to get a board and have it on hand (not hard to replace). The unit will heat with only one element so that wasn’t a big deal. I wouldn’t expect these units to last longer then 10 years.

I plan on ducting into the return air of my hvac system and also outside with a damper to switch between the two and that way during the summer get some free cooling when water heaters working and outside in colder temperatures. Problem solved.

This was extremely helpful, thanks.

Got mine installed professionally. AO smith 67 gallon. My plumber set it to 140f and installed a mixing valve. You should set the temps higher and install a mixing valve if you don't have one. I have 3 people in my home currently. No issues with running out of hot water whatsoever. My basement also gets very hot and humid over the summer. It helped substantially with the humidity and heat in the basement. Also keep in mind the utility company gives a rebate for a heat pump water heater. It's a no brainer getting one of these installed if its in a basement or garage imo.

0:50 I was listening with my headphones and thought it was my own kid saying he needed to go poop lol. Joys of being a dad

get yourself a high high efficiency mini split put one head in the basement. this unit should be 24Seer or higher with ability to heat down to -22. Depending on the type of electric HVAC you have this heat pump unit would offset enough of the furnace costs with the savings and still have positive savings after conditioning the basement. Depending on the basements size and your ability to install the mini split or at least do everything but the line set and have a AC guy do just that part you could get away with around 2-2.5K for the unit if you need 15-18K btu.Dont go to small with it though the smaller the BTU output of the heatpump they tends to drop off the heat output in cold temps to less than 10K at 0F. I wish i new the size of the basement but i think you need 12-18K btu to do what i am thinking. Dont think it isnt worth it either because heat rises as well as goes to cold so the warmer the basement the warmer the entire house is. Plus if you have cold air return in the basement for the furnace your already sharing that mini splits heat to the entire house and in the summer months you wont even need to run the mini split. I know it sounds counter intuitive but so doesnt robbing your living space for heat to heat hot water lol. The right mini split will still keep you at a positive savings on the bill if you have a standard old style non (invertor/multi speed compressor) furnace. Another option is out there and that is looking into the new whole house furnaces with this tech in them they have ones out now you just pull your air handler and plop theirs in retaining your AUX heat components.

This is the first time I've heard mention of the HPWH unit cooling the air in the basement. Good to know. Makes me want to look more into that brand that separates the compressor by putting it outside.

Thanks so much! You answered all my questions. We live in Tennessee and look forward to the cool air in our garage.

A couple of things. 1) even if you have gas you can do this to have less impact on the environment. Even counting losses from electric generation this is better for the environment. 2) a mixing valve will help you maintain constant water temperature at the tap in the house. 3) If you have solar then you can schedule operation to coincide with when the solar is producing electricity and then your payback is almost immediate. 4) If you live in a place that charges a different price at different times of the day (and you don't have solar) you can schedule it to only heat water when electricity is cheap and avoid it operating in the high cost period of the day. 5) although it is cooling the room it is also dehumidifying your basement.

i saw another video they ducted the exhaust with a splitter. so in the summer the cold air comes in, winter, blows it out

Great video! Enjoyed the detailed metrics and tips on setting up a schedule

I bought the same exact unit and got $800 instant rebate from Eversource at Home Depot in Connecticut. Plus, $400 federal tax credit when you file taxes. List price was $1400 in March of 2020 when I bought it. And I am saving on my monthly electric bill. Before I had an 80 gallon electric tank heater that ate up the electricity.

Hey I did some research on rebates and I found that my utility company is offering rebates and you can claim this on your federal tax return as well, yay

There is a $300 federal tax credit for HPWH and there should be a local utility rebate that will speed up your payback. I got a total of $600 in rebates. I installed mine in June 2019 from nat gas. I have solar so I pay zero for electric and am saving about $25 in gas per month. Any thought to duct the outlet air outside?

I moved into my first house that has an old fuel oil hot water boiler that runs out radiator and our domestic hot water. Im thinking of getting one of these for the domestic hot water to stop getting cold later in the middle of a shower. So I can definitely understand the thought process of keep it near the furnace or boiler in the house because that’s what I’m planning on doing to utilize all the excess heat the boiler throws off

I purchased the 80 Gal model about two years ago. Its my wife and I, I oversized on purpose since a heat pump is much slower recovery. I am in the south so we love it. If your in a cold climate, I would not recommend. In full heat pump mode, I measured 1.7 Amps of load on 220v. That is crazy low. I have a walk out basement with a small garage integrated where the water heater is located. When I built the house I put 8" vent thru the wall for winter use. If used in the correct climate and installed with options to vent, its free air conditioner to the basement in the summer. Noise level is 2 or 3 times a refrigerator. Would not want it near any sitting area, kitchen etc. It runs for hours and hours. But it is just sipping electric. The noise is not a problem for us.

To address the problem of heat pump mode cooling your basement too much in the winter, instead of running it in electric/resistive heat mode, maybe it would be worthwhile to instead spend a small amount to duct the cold output air to the outside. Then during the warm months, disconnect or divert that cold output back into the basement (or other parts of the house the could use it). The ducting is a one time modest expense (especially if you don't buy the ridiculously overpriced rheem outlet duct adapter) that provides the valuable options needed to continue to achieve maximum savings by using heat pump mode.

Mike, I solved your too much cold air problem. 1st off - job well done explaining. Thanks much! We are all learning. Below are many points for anybody wanting to know more so here is the deal: Sizing, rebates, install tips, what to know, some pros and cons: (Mike see comment "B ") A) Recommend an install of a larger tank size for new installs. 50 vs 65gal. Adding 15gals. is more HW in reserve & that heat pump will heat, instead of electric backup, which only kicks in on high demand situations. Yes, you are heating larger volume, but it will save the electric heat units from kicking on. (The 65 is $400 more than the 50gal) B) Watch this video with a Rheem factory rep. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ukv1cMp3vFI.html The same unit can be connected to air ducts.(The video is 3-4yrs old, hope Rheem didn't change ducting ability!) IN WINTER You can vent the cool exhaust air directly out of the house. IN SUMMER Disconnect and temporarily take out a section of duct to keep cool dehumidifed air in basement (or garage)! Love it! Ability to cool a space depends on size AND how frequently your unit runs! 2 people showering is not same a 4 people! Morning showers activate the unit and cool a space, but don't expect the same cooling on a hot afternoon when nobody has created significant demand! Its basics people! Stop asking "what can I expect"? How many BTUs? Doesn't matter if unit aint running much! HOWEVER, I think these do cool an average space a few degrees. Helping maintain demumidified air is awesome and in many respects feels better to us humans than a few degrees difference (plus no rusted items in storage, no musty smells= huge!) Cutting a hole in a garage wall for ducting is easy, but not so in a basement. (You would need a portion of basement wall exposed and above grade. Maybe remove/retrofit a small basement window to route duct work OR make a duct sized hole in basement ceiling to 1st floor and 90-degree it outside, hide w/ sheetrock or put inside closet). Think about transitioning round duct to rectangular if needed. No downsizing of ducts. You need to have no resistance for the pump's fan to move enough air. Also duct run has to be a short run to outside. For longer runs add a mid-stream inline powered vent fan (few watts) which can be automatically turned on with heat pump running (a bit technical, it can be done, but don't ask me). So duct the exhaust and leave unit's intake alone. B1) These units use electricty to heat in high demand times, or when the ambient air temp is too low to keep up. Recommend the 30amp tank over the 15amp. When electric is needed the 30-amp tank has a much faster recovery rate (look at the specs, big difference !). Also realize the $$ cost of a new electric circuit and make sure you have room in your main panel. C) 120-122-degrees in not enough! Recommend turning up the temperature setting even higher during your daytime use hours if u are still short on demand. Remember the cheaper to run heat pump is doing the storage cheaply not the electric elements. C1) I'm still learning about HW tanks and deadly Legionnaires Disease bacteria, but it is true water temperatures of 120°F does not kill the Legionella bacteria; a hot water temperature of 140°F is required at which Legionellae dies in 32 minutes. Hence it is recommended that water heaters be set at a safe hot water temperature of 140°F. FOR all you super Green People who want to set your tank super low, think again. Some conditions and environments, not all, can make your tank a breeding ground. What are the chances? I have no idea, but I'm ptting the info out there for people to learn for themselves. D) U are 100% correct putting these things in an already hot boiler room is the most efficient in winter as the air is pre-heated. Note: Units must have ample air volume per manufacturer (100 cubic feet) This is why if you put tank in a small closet you need to vent the closet significantly or add the ducts connecting outside the closet. E) Your install is good, but buyers need to be aware that old retrofit water connections coming from above the unit need to be moved out of the way above the new unit. The heat pump will likely need repair at some point and needs more than 15" to get the cover off. Do the install correct the 1st time. F) If diode needs replacement in years later see comment E! The diode is a bitch to get at. Most basements don't have ceiling clearance to fit a long diode out the top so it needs to come out 2 ft or so, be clamped (so it won't retract) cut in two or three, and be removed for replacement with a jointed diode (flexible one) G) The rebates in NYC metro area are $1000 From Con Edison and $300 tax credit. Your $1300 unit at Home Depot (don't know why your paid 1600 in u analysis unless u included fittings, condensation water pump, etc) H) For people whose tank has died the replacement cost is 1300 less cost of cheap electric tank (say $500) cause everybody needs hot water. As an upgrade to replace a working tank u have then full cost is relevant. I) BE AWARE - These Rheem units put off about 50-decibels of noise (about same as a newer dishwasher, but much lower than a window a/c unit). Remember decibels get exponentially loader and have a scale (60db is twice the amount of sound as 50db). Also these units give off some vibration. I have read, but have NOT confirmed, that final pipe connections need to be flex, braided hose, or pex connections (and maybe PVC) to not transfer the vibration to your rigid copper lines. I believe in eathquake prone west coast code is flexible lines regardless for all tank types. Somebody let me know if these heat pump units require it? J) Don't forget these units need to be connected to a drain for the condesation water that's collected. This is done with a $40-50 condensing pump that turns on when it senses water and pumps to a drain (upwards if needed). IF you don't need a pump, don't forget to add a cleanout point when connecting the line to the tank (if done in any rigid pipe type, pex included) The line is not under pressure so it can be left open or capped, but the condensation lines over time have a nasty habit of getting clogged with kunk and scum. A cleanout will make the job easy to snake out if you are installing rigid pipe for this. J) Supposedly, YES, you can put a duct/hole in your ceiling and draw hot attic air downward to feed the heat pump in the hot summer months (very efficient), but I do wonder about the maximum duct length allowed that the unit can "pull" in enough air to feed itself? Also remember to avoid doing 90' degree turns in the run as they add resistence (same thing as a long clothes dryer vent, which then takes longer to dry clothes and burns out heat elements). I'm not going to be the guy that tries out this method, but I am curious how many have failed to get the results they wanted? For people who want to put this in an attic don't! (With the exception If this is a replacement for an old unit, then maybe?) But for a new install the problems of getting it into the attic, future service access, the heavy filled weight, the noise vibration, the plumbing and electrical required, and no additional ceiling height for later service fixes (replacing diode or getting heat pump cover off) you are creating problems. The unit also has to be in a conditioned space (always above 40-degrees for the pump to even have a chance to get water hot enough for showers, otherwise it will use electricity to heat up at same cost as a pure electric tank. Also pipes freeze in cold climates in unconditioned attics. Plus you need to clean the air filter screen on these things monthly at a minimum (top unit access too). I have seen to many "Green People" wanting to put it in a hot attic to cool thier house (heat rises) but they don't have a clue what conditioned means! For those people educate yourself! AND don't put pipes and a device with 50 gallons of water subject to catastrophic failure above your entire living space! Can you say MASSIVE water Damage! K) I remain concerned about the complexity of these units (too many points of failure), the heat pump, circuit panels, led screen are all 1 more thing that can break. Reliability is priceless! A happy family and wife not bitching about cold showers is priceless too!. A 10 year warranty is not awesome (compared to lifetime warranties offered on indirect HW tanks for the same price if you can do indirect). These units only appear to have about a 10 yr history for broader adopted residential use. That really isn't that long for us pigeons to know rates of failure that occured less than the warranty period.. In 10 years I doubt the rebates currently offered will be available so replacement cost might be full price when the time comes. Early adopters who like to brag about "how many cents per KW hour" should always look at long term operatiing costs! The chance for just 1 additional repair during lifespace will eat most $$$ savings! Not denying these are good for the environment and reducing carbon, but there are other things to factor in your decision.

I installed a 50 gallon Rheem hybrid at my home. We saved $100 or more dollars per month on electrical bill so the unit paid for it's self in one year. I vented the intake from the attic witch can pull up to 140 degree air then vented the outtake cold air into our living room. Also we had a wedding party of 8 people stay at the house I turned to high recovery it supplied hot showers for all. very happy with this water heater.

Great video! Quite objective with advice for people in different circumstances.

I wish they would make this unit with a plastic tank... then it would last longer than 9 years

You could duct it in to your cold air return on your furnace in the winter

Thank you so much for your feedback on your hybrid water heater! I'm also looking at one and I live in Minnesota. I agree with you, I may need to turn it off for a couple, three months when it is very cold. One note, there are some federal and local credits for purchasing a hybrid electric water heater. This helps offset the cost, as well. Thank you, Mark

thank you for the video I'm installing mine 14 December

I installed my 50 gallon heater in 2019 for $1200. It has cost a total of $540 to operate over 4 years. My old unit was rated at $550/year. It would have cost me $2200 over that same time period. This unit has already paid for itself and is working on paying for the next unit!

I'm only here because I was in need of a new water heater. When I saw the $1600 price on one these I had to try and understand why! I've personally crunched the numbers and there is just no way this makes any financial sense whatsoever! Good for you at finding a way to make you think your saving money somehow.

Very informative, thanks.

Great review, thank you!

Great video and help for anyone considering this option for water heaters.

Thumbs up for sharing the data. I love that you used kWh data so I can do my own calculation. Very helpful. Thank you.

This was a great video and provided me with and insightful point of view.

Great information and appreciate that you’re a straight shooter.

Very informative. Good job.

Great video man, got yourself another subscriber.

If you have a heat pump for the home then you can pump heat to the basement and the net benefit would be better than electric heat strips. I'm not sure about other forms of heat though.

I am in the north and just installed the unit in a second home. I plan to duct both the input and output vents to help cool my house in the summer and draw heat from outside in the summer to make it more efficient. It is in an unused basement so cooling the room in the winter is not a big deal. A byproduct of it is that it dehumidifies the area allowing me to no longer run a dedicated dehumidifier. I just need to find a duct splitter so I can direct input and outputs based upon the season.

Thanks to the explanation it’s was very helpful.

Great info thanks for doing this.

I installed the same 50 gal unit in my garage 3 years ago and it has already paid for itself, and will pay for 2 more before the 10 year warranty expires! One problem I see with your cost savings math is that you took 30% of your entire electric bill to calculate the water heater savings. As you said, your bill depends on several variables and you've also made other cost saving improvements that affected your bill. I think it would most accurate to multiply your total kWh usage from the water heater by the price/kWh. Since my garage will drop into the 40's in the winter, I cut a hole in the wall behind it to vent the intake to pull from my laundry room for even more efficiency. This has been my best investment after my solar system install earlier in 2019.

Doing some research on hybrid WHs, and just wanted to say this was helpful, thanks! That's cool (no real pun intended LOL) the unit keeps up with its energy usage through the app; really helps you see your usage. In my estimation of saving $300/yr for what I been looking at, still would pay for itself in 5-6 yrs. Even in the South, you kinda don't want an AC blowing someplace inconvenient on burrier days (such as laundry room where mine is), but if you have the option to turn off the heat pump mode during particular times, then you can really maximize when/how you use that feature along with the scheduling. Also, I believe the $300 fed tax credit is still a thing on these hybrid units as well, so there is that. Sounds like there's a learning curve on owning one till you get everything "just so".

My heat pump(hybrid) water heater seems like a good investment. I guess I’ll know better at the 10 yr mark. We are a two person household.In the summer it’s about 1/4 the cost to operate of my old water heater. In the winter it’s about 1/3 the cost compared to the old one. Yes it was more expensive $1079 for 45 gallon and $196 in parts to install, but I will most definitely make the money back in a couple years. I’m just floored by the difference in our electric bills. Running it at 110deg most the day (change temp schedule via Wi-Fi). It comes on to 125deg (otherwise we run out of hot water) around 3pm-7:30pm(back down to 110deg normally just as 2nd person takes their shower).We’ve gotten in the habit of trying to run dw and take showers only in this window. It’s in the garage so we run it on heat pump only in the summer as it runs efficiently in a hot humid garage. In the winter we run it on energy saver (elements and heat pump). Highly recommend especially if your state offers a rebate.

So DIYer here,Not a plumber, located south Florida, installed unit Rheem 50 gallon, in Garage. Temps & humidity in garage ,in summertime are unbelievable , 89 temp , 70 or 80% humidity. in "wintertime" here south fl , on some days it can mildly cool off garage, but not in summertim, maybe 80 gallon unit , anyway installed maybe 5 or 6 years ago when first became available, think it cut $25 to $ 30 monthly off my bill, only 2 people mostly in here. When visitors come( thats a thing in Florida) i need to change to High demand mode, both elements and compressor run, but zero issues supply hot water. Th main control board blew out after first 2 years, we have insane amount of lightening here for 7 or 8 months, so covered under Warranty took 2 weeks to send me board, in meantime i rigged the element , by direct wiring to 240 and energized about 10 minutes , water was hot, pita , but did the job. Later installed whole house surge unit in Panel, Breaker. I noticed in many Videos that people have not installed the required ?? Hot Water Expansion Tank, i think is code required most everyplace, cost like $50.00, Not a licensed plumber, anyway its been great addition, i read the WIFI app not too good.

Super helpful, thank you!

Great video. I really love the breakdown. It has been really helpful for helping me understand it.

To fix the cooling issue you should install the factory vent kit on the exhaust and simply push the cold air outside.

So I installed a 50 gal AO Smith unit and like you I have been having less than stellar results. Aside from the noise and cooling effects (its in my house in January)my main concern is with hot water during a shower. I like a really hot shower in the winter so I have my unit set at 150° and it is plenty hot at first but my water cools off very quickly. Much less than the advertised 66gal. I've had it for a week and noticed something odd during my last shower. At full blast the water cools down very quickly so I adjusted my shower head to low flow to preserve the hot water and it heated back up. Turned it back to full blast and again, it cooled down quickly. This happened several times. My guess is that there is a design flaw with the hot and cold inlet and outlet locations. Mine has the cold inlet at the bottom and hot outlet at the top. I think the cold water rushes in and circulates in such a way that it comes straight back out of the hot outlet instead of mixing in properly or staying at the bottom of the tank. Just my thoughts and recent experiences...

I live on the gulf coast and my water heater is in my garage, so I'm definitely leaning towards this. My garage can get very hot during the summer due to my EV charging, so this can help counteract that. My complaint is that you only get the bigger rebate if you switch from gas, not traditional electric. The electric companies really don't care about you saving energy, they just want you to switch from gas.

I live in Texas where I have a gas heater. It's 10 years old seems to be asking for replacement (it's rated at just under $300 per year in fuel). The gas tank vents above into the attic out the roof. Instead, I could vent the hybrid up the attic into the room upstairs a foot away. (Insulate the vent). If it could give a couple degrees of relief to the single upstairs bonus room, that'd be awesome. Seems as if a series of input dampers (input air from the garage or the above attic) and output dampers (into the house, into the garage, out the roof) would be amazing.

Smart review. Thank you !

I have a 2,000 sq ft ranch with a 2,000 sq ft basement. Because it is a big ranch and there is no hot water use in the middle of the house I am installing two Rheem 40 gallon units, one on each end for a better end user experience. I have a two stage 4 ton heat pump that manages to stay out of Aux heat until 0 F, it's only a year old. Buying a multi speed compressor with extra capacity really helps out with heating in the winter. The directions for the water heater tell you to not directly connect this to your HVAC system so I am installing return grills in the return duct that is near the hot water heaters and just routing the 8" flexible duct from the heat pumps right in front of it. I also wanted better recovery time and 2 heat pumps and 4 heating elements should do the job. At least this will end the wife running hot water in the half bath for 5 minutes so she has hot water for the washing machine. I also have a 7 Cu Ft vent-less Whirlpool hybrid heat pump dryer. For you folks considering venting your hot water heater outside do you have a dryer venting massive amounts of hot air outside during the winter? Since I plan on routing my hot water heaters into the intake I will not have a cold room or basement and I am leaving it at that. I also have 320 A service so I am not concerned if my 2 stage aux heat and all the heat pumps come on at the same time. I have the models with auto water shutoff and one will not be near a drain so I have a condensate pump. They will arrive 12/21 and I hope it all goes well. Can you claim the federal tax credit on one or both?

Hey, Just came across your channel and this video is great!! I love how you broke down the calculations. Just a thought I had while watching; would it be advantageous to calculate the cost to heat the air being cooled? There must be a heat loss calculation. This value wouldn't matter much to people in the south but for the ones up here in Canada it would be quite beneficial :) Keep up the good work buddy! Take care

I live in the north and thinking about getting a hybrid water heater when it's time to replace the existing one. Even though we have a gas furnace and water heater, it's actually propane, not natural gas, so can be quite expensive to run. The heater will be in an unfinished section of our basement (the rest of which is finished), next to the furnace. So, I can close the door to that room which should reduce the cooling effect on the rest of the basement in the colder months. I think this will also be a benefit in the summer months when it gets quite humid in the basement and the dehumidifier is constantly running.

Great Explanation

We went with the 80gal model. I was looking to replace the old 50gal, we have a big bathtub in the master the old heater could only fill 2/3 of the way before running out. Then the old unit started leaking and forced my hand, it's been great and can keep up with our usage at 123 degrees F. Now the only issue is the basement is colder and I'm considering ducting solutions to vent the cold air outside in the winter and upstairs in the summer.

you may want to try ducting the exhaust outside with a valve so u can let it vent outside in the winter and then flip it back inside when the weather is warmer.

I just bought a house in Augusta ME . The home is super energy efficient. It was built in 2021. It has 3 bathrooms with showers. Half the basement is finished. The unfinished part is about 800 sqft where the hybrid heat pump hot water heater is. It is insane cold. I’m going to finish out that half of the basement and rip that BS out of there. I’m replacing it with a tankless propane water heater. Sometimes comfort is worth more than a few extra bucks. I’m from Texas and down there it would be nice to have an Air Conditioner in my garage but it no freaking good for a New England basement