


This can be expensive and often extensive in older homes.
#120 volt water well deskconnect upgrade
Heat pump water heaters needed 240V which required consumers to upgrade electrical panels for 240V hardwired service. Since they already have an existing supply of electricity, it’s easy to switch them out for the new 120 volt heat pump water heaters.īefore this 120 volt 15 amp version of heat pump water heaters, it was necessary to upgrade electrical panels for 240 volt hardwired service in order to swap from gas to heat pump water heaters. It only has a heat pump to heat your water, so it needs less electricity supply (but it still is able to provide all the hot water you’ll need – see below).Īn estimated 50% of gas water heaters have an electrical line running to their ignitor switch to ignite their flames. The new 120 volt heat pump water heater gets rid of the electric resistance element. Heat pump water heaters only use electric resistance backup when there is a lot of hot water demand and they can’t keep up, but this is rare. These rods are the same technology used in standard electric water heaters and require a lot of electricity. 240 volts of electricity is needed to power both the efficient heat pumps (which sit on the top of the unit), as well as the electric resistance backup rods. Until now, heat pump water heaters have only been available with 240 volt electrical connections. The newest development in heat pump water heating is the production of a 120 volt 15 amp version. Both use 240 volts of electricity so making the transition is relatively easy.īut what about the other 54% of water heaters across the nation, the 64 million, mostly natural gas powered, machines that are heating the nation’s water? The lowest hanging fruit to more efficient water heating is to replace every inefficient, electric resistance water heater with a hybrid electric heat pump water heater. Heat pump water heaters are orders of magnitude more efficient than polluting natural gas and old electric resistance water heaters, which means families will save hundreds of dollars a year in energy costs and literal tons of CO2 emissions.ġ20 Volt Versions Make Gas Switch-Outs Easier
#120 volt water well deskconnect full
I’ve already written a full CleanTechnica article on the topic in which I called them game changing machines (this happened to be my best read CT article ever and editor, Zach Shahan, laughed that an article on water heaters was the top read for the week). They clean up the way we heat our water and reduce, and potentially eliminate, CO2 emissions from water heating. Heat pump water heaters are a rare example of a silver technological bullet. Heat Pump Water Heaters Are Game-Changing With the right water heater we can have our cake and eat it too: we can have all the hot water we need and save money and not pollute. Water heaters are the second biggest energy user in a typical household in the US, and a clean version of this boring technology might help save the day and our planet. Until relatively recently, no one thought much about the big tube-like machines with pipes and wires sticking out of them that sit in our closets, basements or garages, and somehow provide all the steamy showers we could ever want.īut how we heat water matters greatly in our efforts to decarbonize. In previous, pre-climate catastrophe times, news about a new type of water heater might be laughable. This opens up the world of efficient water heating to many more households because they won’t have to rewire their homes to make the switch. 120 volt 15 amp heat pump water heaters are set to hit the market (most early next year) allowing homeowners with gas water heaters to easily switch them out for heat pump water heaters without expensive electrical panel upgrades. There are big developments happening in the world of water heating. This water heater is expected to hit the market in the first half of 2022. Updated: Editor’s note – a previous version of this article stated that the Rheem 120 V water heater was already for sale.
