Hybrid Water Heaters – GE GeoSpring Water Heater
Posted by easy eco blog
We recently covered Tankless Water Heaters. A new product is the Hybrid Water Heater. Like ones from Eternal and GE. Hybrids have 2 modes of operation. With low flows it has a fixed gas input rate from the preheated water, with higher water needs, it uses a flow sensor like a tankless water heater. GE claims their electric, Energy Star Qualified Geospring Water Heater uses up to 62% less energy than a conventional water heater, and saves $300 a year in energy costs. It has a high energy factor of 2.35. Consumerreports.org has a mini review, their October 2010 print issue has a bigger review.
Hybrid Water Heaters are much higher in efficiency than a regular water heaters, but holds less hot water, usually less than 50 gallons. Recall that Tankless water heaters may not have the capacity to satisfy multiple water uses at the same time and have issues when temperatures are cold. Energy Star standards are emerging for these new items. These units can be up to 50% more efficient.
Downsides:
- They are taller, up to 7 feet tall
- Hybrid water heaters need space to capture uncooled air, upto 1000 sq ft
- If you do no have a nearby drain, a condensate pump ($150) is needed
- They are noisier than conventional water heaters
These items are not cheap, they start around $1600 – $2000 for a 50 gallon, 15GPM GE GeoSpring Hybrid Water Heater model. It is projected to have a 56% annual savings, resulting in a short 4.5 year payback time with Federal Tax Credit. 10 year warranty.
The 50 gallon Rheem HP50RH hybrid water heater is slightly cheaper at $1600 – $1750, 58% annual savings, 4 year payback, 10 year warranty.
Most Hybrid Water heaters are covered by the 2010 Federal Energy Tax Credit, so you can save additional money by purchasing it.
Related posts:
- Tankless Water Heater
- Federal Tax Credit for Energy Efficiency – Water Heaters
- Energy Efficient Eco Friendly Green Water Heater
- Solar Water Heater
- New California Solar Water Heater Rebate
- Reduce Water Heater Energy Use
- Amish Heaters – Free Heat Surge Miracle Convecta-red Fireplace Heater Advertisement
- Bob Villa EdenPURE heaters
Filed under: Conservation, Eco Friendly, Effort, Energy, Green, Home, Medium, Money, Reduce, Water | Tags: GE GeoSpring Water Heater, Hybrid Water Heaters, tankless water heater, water heater
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4 Responses to “Hybrid Water Heaters – GE GeoSpring Water Heater”
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August 4th, 2010 at 9:38 am
[...] sure to also consider a Hybrid Water Heater or an Energy Efficient water heater. [...]
August 31st, 2010 at 12:02 am
[...] Water Heaters must have Energy Factor >= 0.82 or a thermal efficiency of at least 90%. Newer Hybrid water heaters are also [...]
September 10th, 2010 at 12:02 am
[...] better option for many folks is a Hybrid Water heater. [...]
January 3rd, 2011 at 1:58 am
We recently replaced a old standard 40 gallon electric water heater (worked great until it died) with the new GE Geospring Hybrid 50 gallon. The unit was installed professionally, in an unnvented 7 ft x 4 ft X 9 ft pantry. We started out in the default hybrid mode at 120 degrees. We found that we could barely get a bathtub of hot water. We switched over to the “high demand mode”, and even after increasing the setting to 130 degrees, there still was barely enough hot water for one bath. We noted that when we ran hot water at the tap (5 feet from tank) it was consistently 10 degrees cooler than the water temperature setting (e.g. tank set for 130 degrees, water at tap 120 degrees). We called GE and they arranged for a service call. We live in rural Florida, and the man they sent was not familiar with the hybrid, but brought a printout of diagnostic tests for the unit. After about thirty minutes, he pronounced that the unit passed all of the tests. He offered that we might not be getting the volume of warm air in the pantry to allow the heat pump to extract and exchange to the tank water. To test this theory, I placed a ceramic type electric heater in the pantry near the units air intake. This made no perceptible difference in performance. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?