Water Heater Savings Calculator
Are heat pump water heaters really as affordable as the claim to be?
Find out for yourself.
Find out for yourself.
$
Annual Savings
Years until profitable
- ✨ TL;DR: ✨ By spending $1,700 on an upgrade
- you could save $547/year for 10+ years
- and drop your CO2 emissions drastically.
- 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
Yearly Operating Costs — Propane
Annual Fuel Costs
$670
- Heat Pump Water Heater Installation
Sticker Price
How much you pay at the hardware store
- See Rheem and A.O. Smith models for example.
- View our community-maintained comparison spreadsheet
- Eligible for 30% federal tax credit. Unlike a tax deduction, this reduces your bill, not just your taxable income. Not eligible? Edit rate.
$
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?
- Virignian Utilities typically offer about $400 in rebates.
- Low and Moderate income households qualify for up to $1,750 in rebates through HEEHRA (available late 2023 or early 2024).
- There may be incentives not listed here. DSIRE is a giant database of rebates to start you off. Please feel free to let us know any we've missed.
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Comparison Cost
What you would pay for a comparable electric or gas water heater
Total Installation Cost
$3,000
Federal Tax Credit
$9,000 in income required to claim the full credit in the first year.
Credits can be carried forward indefinetly if necessary.
Credits can be carried forward indefinetly if necessary.
$900
State & Utility Rebates
$400
Net Installation Cost
$1,700
- 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
A kWh, or KiloWatt-Hour, is a unit of stored electrical energy.
For comparison, a Tesla Model 3 can hold about 50 kWh with 270 miles range.
For comparison, a Tesla Model 3 can hold about 50 kWh with 270 miles range.
- 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
$123
Propane Costs
$670
Savings Versus Propane
$547
Annual Return On Investment
Compare this to the 5% APY you might get from a high yield savings account (which is taxed as income).
32%
Years until revenue-positive
3.1
Electricity Consumed
823 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 $302 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 $205 annually with a payoff for the water heater in 3.7 years.
- A heat pump water heater will also dehumidify the air while it runs, draining the water it collects.
Created by Peter Ehrlich in 2023 as a Zero Percent Club project.
Inspired by U.S. Mortgage Calculator and Heat Pumps Hooray.
Inspired by U.S. Mortgage Calculator and Heat Pumps Hooray.