Water Heater Buying Guide 2022 - Energy Star rating, price, fuel, rebates, etc.

Good video, thanks. Being from CA and having a 17 year old gas tankless, a comment. The 10 year savings of $200 for high end unit wasn’t that impressive in my opinion. I have soft water system, and I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I only recently did a system flush. I’m sure replacement is on horizon so I’m considering heat pump. However, my home has hot water recirculation line so I want a recirc pump to minimize water waste at distant faucets.

The new tankless have built-in recirc pumps. I assume heat pump models would require a separate pump, correct? Also, we have been spoiled by having unlimited hot water over the years. Every situation is unique, but even with having solar, I will need to think about all the pros and cons. Thanks again for your video.

I think we need to also talk about ease of maintenance, not everyone is handy

The math doesn't work with the energy star ratings at all! We purchased a 50-gallon water heater with a 489 a year energy star rating. We have a smart breaker box. The actual electric usage is costing us $65 dollars a month. That's $780 dollars a year. Now mind you, that's for only my wife and I. The energy smart rating is supposed to be for a family of four. We installed a timer that runs the water heater for only 4 hours a day . 2 hours during the morning. 2 hours during the evening, around 8 o'clock to 10 o'clock. Our electric usage dropped to $30 dollars a month for the hot water tank. That's $360 dollars a year. That's a rating even lower than the government's energy star ratings. We also found out with our research into this . The super high efficiency hot water tanks while having a better energy star ratings. They don't have a good quick recovery time to heat the water during high usage. This means that if you deplete the hot water in the tank, it takes longer for it to heat the replaced water coming into the tank. Thereby negating any electric efficiency when it comes to saving on your electric bill. It's not surprising that math is fuzzy with the energy star ratings that the government implemented! This is what they do to push their agenda. Now, granted, I don't have any math on gas hot water tanks. I suspect that though the efficiency rating would go up, considerably, gas can heat the water way more efficiently than electric. However, without proof, this is only my opinion on gas. Fortunately, I do have the proof with my current system. I have the electric bills and the math to back it up.

What about tankless electric water heaters, especially in combination with solar?

I don't know rick, this electric-powered plant running mostly on natural gas and fossil fuel. 😅 very little renewable energy. Home electricity is getting more expensive every year, also they keep randomly turning off my electricity in winter. yup Texas 🙃 Gas is the way to go for now

I've watched enough of these propaganda videos pushing heat pump water heaters to convince me NOT to buy one. They deliberately skip over the cons of owning one as they so much want to recruit new followers for their climate religion. Our Lady of Perpetual Hear Pump Church needs new members! No, I'm sticking with clean burning natural gas.

Great review!

Why not have included a whole house electric tankless water heater to make a full comparison?

EPA is about as useless as the ATF!

Heat pump no thx

I was hoping you’d also compare electric tankless

Disappointed that I can't find a video of real world in the socialist states (Northern New England). The official Pravda state promotes these and heat pumps as 100% amazing--no downside. However, there are a number of sources pointing out how noisy they are if located in your cellar in your 1 story house and the noise can be quite annoying. Also, these same state governments promote heat pumps to no end without telling people that if the area where you live drops below 20 degrees in the winter that heat pumps are very expensive to run and your house will be cold---fits the left wing narrative but doesn't necessarily keep you warm. If anyone knows of a legitimate comparison of the hybrid water heaters in these conditions please attach a link. I am very interested in this type of water heater I just don't want to find out I hate it because of the noise or that it doesn't really save much due to the long winter months.

This is a great choice. I love my RHEEM HYBRID water heater.

Have you thought about using solar panels to heat water

Gas company always charge minimum charge what ever if u not use. My gas heater uses gas below the minimum consumption amounts, so no point go with tank less

Energy star ratings are just estimates not in any real world setting and like auto mileage estimates will never reach these values...it will take more than 5 years to get payback not worth it...

None of the new heat pump systems are reliable, wait about 2 years until they actually get ones that work and are reliable...

The rebate systems are not even set up by the states yet, how does anyone get their money back?

Are these rebates available to investment properties like small 4 family buildings in NYC?

Great video Matt! One word of caution is moving away from natural gas to electric may not in-fact reduce your use of fossil fuels as many locations still use coal or natural gas to produce electricity.

no more giant water heaters, so useless

Heat pump models are prohibitively expensive and the ROI is distant. Plus they're even taller. If they didn’t just slap on a AC unit on the top of tall tanks to make a hybrid and instead designed a short/wide model that could fit in crawl spaces, then they’d make sense because a byproduct would be dehumidifying the crawl space. But no. They made them for rich people with huge houses.

I'm really close to buying a heat pump water heater, but I do have two hesitations: (1) noise. I'm quite sensitive to noise in my home. Any recommendations on the least-noisy models? (2) efficiency, given my space. My water heater will be in my unconditioned basement (essentially a glorified crawl space, but with an area large enough to stand in and house the furnace, water heater, and some storage shelves). I live in Montana. It gets cold here. I know from experience that people in other countries use these in locations much further north than where I am. But the fact that this will be in an unfinished basement is a complicating factor. Anyone with lived experience using these in cold climates, placed in an unfinished basement?

There is ROI you have to consider because upfront cost is going to be much more than your Standard Gas Hot Water Heater..

In about 4 years from now in 2027, the all new wall-street scam of the next decade will start. It’s called “CO2 Certificates”. This means every ton of CO2 will be taxed with a price Progression up to 250 $ per ton. The heat pump model is the ONLY option on your sheet if you don’t want to be killed by CO2 tax five years from now. Greetings from your gas starved, obedient US forward base, called Germany..

Lulz. Sponsored by EPA= immediate stop watching

Matt -noise ? And who services these ??

You don’t neT to turn heat pump tank up too high, it’s efficiency goes down.

I guess 5 min showers are doable when one doesn’t use a loofah or wash cloth and only let the water hit their feet

What surprised me when I learned it, is that the gas water heaters are not very efficient. If they made them condensing (like condensing furnaces) then maybe it'd be better.

Tankless makes roughly zero sense, unless you are retrofitting a building that didn't have hot water before.

Heat pump is horrible in the north

Are there units available that have a parallel circuit for radiant floor heating?

Can you do an updated video with an electric tankless water heater included in the comparison?

TANKLESS ELECTRIC IS MISSING

So u were able to mount a heat pump in a small space.. I only have 21" of width between the 2x4 s.. I would like a pro terra also.. but a tight fit

What about heat pump water heater not not hybrid water heaters.
Sonco2 with 83gallon tank. Currently fed and state is $2800 off. But the initial cost is high. Please do an update with type of unit. Heatpump is good from -20 to 140 degF. Check it, please.

I am concerned about the noise it makes, can he just turn it on and let me hear it

Thanks for everything here! A lot of videos about heat pump water heaters fail to mention placement. I'm glad that you did. I do have one comment to add. If you set this unit in an heated area, drop that UE factor to one or below and there is no efficiency advantage over a standard electric water heater. If you have to spend energy and money on space heating for the water heater to cool that same space you won't see any efficiency gains. There are some comments about the benefit to the unit acting as a dehumidifier, so there could be benefit there. I'm in the north, with very dry air. As much as I love this tech, it's the wrong fit for my climate.

What abou oil heater?

What about durability and replacement intervals. I just heard a very pessimistic view from a Home Depot saleman that tank type water heater quality is declining. And one could expect only a 7 year life.

I live in California.Gas water heaters in residential are soon to be mandated to be replaced by electric by 2030.I see the term zero emissions electric.What does this mean?Also what electric heaters are available?......Thanks

One advantage that I'm surprised Matt didn't mention, is the benefit of air sealing the building envelope when you swap out a gas unit for an electric one (either heat pump or resistance). When a gas unit runs, its combustion air is exhausted and evacuated out the flue or vent, depressurizing the house and thus requiring make-up air. In other words, it takes the conditioned air (either heated or cooled) from inside the house and blows it outside the house, increasing the overall HVAC load. I'd be interested to see some numbers on this impact.

Useless system

EPA propaganda, burn gas at the power plant 40-60% efficient then transmit the power then convert back into heat your less than %40 efficient, burn at your house 95%+ efficient.

My wife and I wound up replacing our water heater with a model that includes a heat pump, based largely on the information provided in this video. We have been very happy with our reduced energy costs and it's nice having a little A/C ducted out to our garage in the summer. After local and Federal rebates, the model we bought cost us no more than a normal electric water heater would have, but we're looking at saving over $200/yr on our electric bills. This means it will pay for itself in about 3 years and be a bonus every year after that. Complete no-brainer to install one of these, provided you can duct the output so that it's not competing with your heating in the winter.

There’s an option of getting a 15amp or 30amp. Not sure what I should get? Thinking one’s 110v and other is 220? My bluette generator only puts out 110v. But 220v is probably more efficient? 😆