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Water Heater Savings Calculator

Are heat pump water heaters really as affordable as the claim to be?
Find out for yourself.
$356
Annual Savings
2.5
Years until profitable
  • ✨ TL;DR: ✨ By spending $1,200 on an upgrade
  • you could save $300/year for 10+ years
  • and drop your CO2 emissions drastically.
Hybrid Water Heater Savings Calculator - See how a new water heater can save you hundreds in fuel | Product Hunt

  1. Existing Water Heater Cost

Daily Hot Water Usage

EPA-standard "minutes of hot water per day".
  • Four ten-minute showers, ten minutes for laundry (equal to one hour per week) and ten minutes for dishes: sixty minutes.
  • Assumes a 90°F typical rise in temperature.
minutes

Your Current Fuel Source

What your current water heater runs on

Your State

Where you will be doing the installation

Heater Efficiency

What fraction of the energy contained in fuel is converted to heat in your water.
  • Typical values are 0.5-0.8.
  • Most manufacturers post specifications online. For example you can search Bradford White or see this example manual which claims an 80% Recovery Efficiency.

Fuel Cost

Dollars per gallon of propane/LP Gas
  • Price information not available for your state. Defaulted to the national average.
  • Price data from your state around March 2023
$

Yearly Operating Costs — Propane

Annual Fuel Costs
$524.00
Gallons Propane Burned
150 gal
CO2 Emitted
 lb

  1. Heat Pump Water Heater Installation

Sticker Price

How much you pay at the hardware store
$

Installation Cost

How much you pay to have it installed in your home
  • A self install can be as low as $100-$200 for hardware, or expect more for a professional install.
  • Installation cost is also covered under the federal tax credit.
  • ⚠️ Most units require a 240 Volt power supply, which can add to costs.
$

Local Incentives

Does your state, town, or utility offer any incentives beyond the Federal Tax Credit?
$

Comparison Cost

What you would pay for a comparable electric or gas water heater
Total Installation Cost
$
Federal Tax Credit
$
State & Utility Rebates
$
Net Installation Cost
$

  1. Heat Pump Water Heater Operation

Assuming the same hot-water demand

Uniform Energy Factor

What factor of input energy is converted to heat.
  • Because heat pumps move heat rather than creating it, their efficiency is always over 100%.
  • Typical values are 3.8-4. (Larger heaters being more efficient)

Electricity Price

What you pay per kWh of power
  • You can see state averages here.
  • As with other fuels, expect this to go up with inflation – unless you generate your own electricity.
$/kWh

Yearly Operating Costs — Heat Pump

Electric Costs
$
Propane Costs
$524
Savings Versus Propane
$363
Annual Return On Investment
30%
Years until revenue-positive
2.5
Electricity Consumed
844 kWh
CO2 Emitted
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The ‘Gotchas’

  • When selecting a new hot water heater, compare apple-to-apples with "first hour" gallons of water.
  • Heat Pump water heaters output cold air like an A/C. This can be a plus or a minus depending on the season. Most can be hooked up to ducting to control where the cold dry air goes. More expensive split systems are available with wider operating temperature ranges.
  • Most units can be set to run in resistance heating mode (Efficiency Factor = 1). If you did this for half the year, your costs would be $642 annually.
  • If you pair your heat pump hot water heater with a heat pump air heater for wintertime (6 months of air-to-air heat pump, also with ~3x efficiency), your electric costs would be around $253 annually with a payoff for the water heater in years.
  • A heat pump water heater will also dehumidify the air while it runs, draining the water it collects.

Like this calculator? You might also like our guide to cold climate heat pumps:

A Buyers Guide

How To Shop For Cold Climate Heat Pumps
The outdoor condenser of a heat pump
Created by Peter Ehrlich in 2023 as a Zero Percent Club project.
Inspired by U.S. Mortgage Calculator and Heat Pumps Hooray.