Cooly hot. Or hotly cool. Follow-up video: https://youtu.be/fHPCS8j3cRM Other stuff: Technology Connections on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/techconnectify.bsky.social Technology Connections on Mastodon: https://mas.to/@TechConnectify Have you ever noticed that I've never done that whole influencer thing? That's all thanks to people like you! Viewer support through Patreon keeps this channel independent and possible. If you'd like to join the amazing folks who fund my work, as well as folks in need in Chicagoland and beyond, check out the link below. Thank you! https://www.patreon.com/technologyconnections 00:00 intro 03:55 Why my situation is… not ideal 06:02 Installation quirks 14:47 The upsides and why I did this 22:24 But what about in winter? 26:47 The math behind this 31:10 The massive “catch” with 120V models 38:12 Two minor issues I’ve had 40:17 AO Smith’s so-far unique feature 44:32 Weird nerd stuff and other nonsense
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"My water heater is cooler than yours" Sounds like a design flaw.
I've been sitting on this for a while in part to change the ducting configuration and answer the "is condensation a problem" question. The answer is... maybe. A thin film of condensation is forming on the uninsulated duct, but even after running for a few hours it doesn't build up nearly enough to cause dripping and once the water heater shuts off it all quickly evaporates. If this is all that happens, I won't feel the need to make changes. But I haven't had it set up long enough to get a true answer. Because of my sicko energy cost optimization habits, my air conditioning doesn't run most of the day and indoor humidity can get fairly high by the early evening. So I'll be monitoring it for a while. It is definitely a noise improvement, though, and while an insulated duct would be difficult to make work given my space constraints, if I end up needing one I will figure out how to make it work and will update this comment.
The heat pumps will continue until morale improves.
"So now, you may be wondering, why I went through all this trouble to install a very slow, gigantic, expensive, somewhat noisy, and esoteric water heater." No, no I really didn't.
I didn't notice the fire alarm bell, my eyes were dead locked on the RADON pipe
The truly sensible thing in home design would be a single central heat pump, which can route the heat wherever it is needed an dremove it from wherever cooling is needed: hot water tank, refrigerator/freezer, indoor air, and so on. A single large, powerful, highly efficient heat pump, and a multi-way valve system to route the hot or cold fluids.
Mechanical Engineer here, quick note on the Thermostatic Mixing Valve, we need them because at least where I am, by code you are not allowed to deliver hot water above 120F due to scalding, but, Legionella bacteria loves growing at 120F, however it dies at 140F really quickly. We store at 140F to kill Legionella. It would be more energy efficient to store at 120F, but we don't for safety reasons.
Alec's waiting for a power outage the same way gun owners wait for a break in (but you know, in a wholesome way)
"It has Bluetooth and wifi, because of course it does." Got a actual RL laugh out of me.
The open vent you adapted to- that was there for “combustion air” for the old natural Draft water heater. Your furnace is sealed combustion, no free air required! Great news, you are not being naughty using that vent for your purposes!
I space out listening to these videos while I draw and they start sounding like "the heat pump knows where it is because it knows where it isn't"
"Babe wake up, new Heatpump Connection video just dropped"
That closet air recirculation solution is PRECISELY the kind of well thought out jank that I adore. There's something very satisfying about imagining a future HVAC technician staring at all this and scratching their head for 20 minutes, before it clicks and they mumble "oh, that's pretty clever actually."
For your bathroom fan thermostat problem, search for an Automatic Vacuum Switch. Those turn on/off a secondary outlet based on current draw from a primary appliance, typically like a table saw or something, but it should work just fine with a water heater too.
"It's a dumb solution but I tend to prefer those" That's why *I'm* here
One of the coolest features of this unit is off grid usage.
I'm lucky to live in a spot in the US with geothermal. I just have a long pipe going into the ground with a circulation loop tied to the water heater, and the thermosiphon effect means my hot water still works when the power is out. It is pretty dope.
This is all a bit Bananas for someone living in Australia. Heat pumps hot water is plentiful here, storage hit water is ubiquitous, no one is installing heat pumps indoors, winters are mild (well at least for me), power points are spicy.
If only I could afford a home to buy a water heater and other cool appliances that will save me money. Oh wait, that’s kind of backwards.
I've been in the heat pump water heater club for years. It's perfect for Florida! I feel like houses need hot and cold water loops, so we can really maximize all this heat transfer instead of just blowing air around inefficiently.