Hi, folks.
Since this is now the "Early Bird" forum with presumably lots of early adopters of technology, perhaps that carries over elsewhere.
In any event I know there are a lot of very knowledgeable people here, and to be honest I tend to trust some folks here rather than on generic forums out there on the interwebs.
Anyway: our water heater has died; it's a 50 gallon conventional natural gas type. In days past I would have simply found a new replacement, called my brother-in-law to help me heft out the old one and drop in the new one, plumbed it out and called it a day.
However...we recently finished a solar installation on our house, and we also opted for a pretty substantial battery backup, so we don't have to be as concerned either about using electricity or having a power outage. (That is always one of the great things about a gas water heater...even if the power is out, at least you have hot water, right?)
So aside from having to run a new circuit to the location, we have a decision to make whether to go with a conventional electric unit or a new hybrid type (electric and heat pump). We are in a location where heat pumps are quite effective, so that makes it feasible. One drawback, however, to the latter seems to be that when something is wrong it's hard to find a technician who knows both systems, but we are guessing as these things become more common, so will the people who support them.
Now you might be wondering, if we have solar, why do we care about installing a hybrid? Well, for one, our solar system is in some ways close to capacity, and two, there's really no reason to "waste" electricity just because you aren't paying for it in the conventional sense. Also, our utility company will give us a rebate for a chunk of the purchase price, which makes it cost about the same as a conventional electric unit. But maybe I'm just overthinking this and making it too complicated? Certainly with the hybrid units there is more to go wrong.
So I thought I'd tap the wisdom in our group and see what thoughts you have, and if some of you perhaps own one of the hybrid units please chime in. And obviously if you might happen to work in these industries please share your experience.
Thanks, folks!
Since this is now the "Early Bird" forum with presumably lots of early adopters of technology, perhaps that carries over elsewhere.
In any event I know there are a lot of very knowledgeable people here, and to be honest I tend to trust some folks here rather than on generic forums out there on the interwebs.Anyway: our water heater has died; it's a 50 gallon conventional natural gas type. In days past I would have simply found a new replacement, called my brother-in-law to help me heft out the old one and drop in the new one, plumbed it out and called it a day.
However...we recently finished a solar installation on our house, and we also opted for a pretty substantial battery backup, so we don't have to be as concerned either about using electricity or having a power outage. (That is always one of the great things about a gas water heater...even if the power is out, at least you have hot water, right?)
So aside from having to run a new circuit to the location, we have a decision to make whether to go with a conventional electric unit or a new hybrid type (electric and heat pump). We are in a location where heat pumps are quite effective, so that makes it feasible. One drawback, however, to the latter seems to be that when something is wrong it's hard to find a technician who knows both systems, but we are guessing as these things become more common, so will the people who support them.
Now you might be wondering, if we have solar, why do we care about installing a hybrid? Well, for one, our solar system is in some ways close to capacity, and two, there's really no reason to "waste" electricity just because you aren't paying for it in the conventional sense. Also, our utility company will give us a rebate for a chunk of the purchase price, which makes it cost about the same as a conventional electric unit. But maybe I'm just overthinking this and making it too complicated? Certainly with the hybrid units there is more to go wrong.
So I thought I'd tap the wisdom in our group and see what thoughts you have, and if some of you perhaps own one of the hybrid units please chime in. And obviously if you might happen to work in these industries please share your experience.
Thanks, folks!
