Heat Pumps and Solar Hot Water

A heat pump is a green hot water heating technology that can be used to replace energy-hungry electric or gas hot water units. A heat pump uses renewable energy to heat your water, without the need for solar panels. It absorbs the heat from the surrounding air and uses it to heat your water.

Heat pump water heaters are highly efficient and only use 30% of the energy of a conventional electric hot water system. They use a technology similar to a refrigerator or a reverse cycle air conditioner.

In simple terms, heat pumps do not rely on direct sun or fossil fuels to provide an energy source, instead they use clever technology to efficiently transfer thermal energy directly from the surrounding air and into the water. So you will always have hot water, 24 hours a day, 12 months a year, come rain, hail or shine!

UPDATE: OUR HEAT PUMP BULK BUY HAS NOW CLOSED!

Fact Sheets

Fact sheet - Water heating, Sep 2024.pdf

Fact Sheet: Water Heating

Solar-Hot-Water-and-Heat-Pump-Fact-Sheet.pdf

Fact Sheet: Solar Hot Water and Heat Pumps

FAQs

How much will I save?

With a heat pump, you can expect to save up to 70% on your water-heating costs, which is around $700 -$900/year on your energy bill for the average Australian home. (Saul Griffith)

Ausgrid has a useful calculator to estimate the cost of hot water in your home and how much you would save using a hot water heat pump.

What is the average payback period?

If you opt for one of the government subsidised offers currently available, you may only pay $100 to have your electric hot water system subbed out for a heat pump and hence the payback can be just a month or two!

If you buy one of the 6 year warranty ones - top of the range like Sanden or ReClaim heat pumps - you might be up for $4,000 but the rebate is $1,900 - so roughly it will cost you $2,100. These systems can be programmed to heat only on the sun, or times of the day you want. So here the payback period would be about 2 years. These units are designed to be super quiet at 37dB, which is almost silent.

How much noise does a heat pump make?

All heat pumps make some noise, but some are quieter than others. Do check the noise rating level of your heat pump, as you don’t want to annoy your neighbours!

What government rebates are available?

The State and Federal government are both offering rebates for those keen to get a heat pump into their homes. Some rebates can mean you only end up being $100 out of pocket. Our friends down in Thirroul (Electrify 2515) have collated an easy-to-follow guide to the rebate schemes.

What is the environmental impact?

Water heating accounts for nearly a quarter (25%) of the energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of the average Australian home. By replacing an energy-hungry electric-water heater or polluting gas heater with a heat pump, you are reducing your CO2 emissions by over 4 tonnes per year.

What size heat pump do I need?

For a small household (1-4 people) consider a 170 - 200L capacity heat pump.

For 4 or more people consider a 280L + capacity heat pump.

What are the pros and cons?

PROS

Reliable – provides hot water day and night
Low operating noise
Save $700 - $900/year
Great government rebate schemes available
Quick payback period
Impressive environment impact – uses 75% less energy than a conventional water heater and reduces CO2 emissions by 4 tonnes/year
Easy installation process (by a professional)
An energy multiplier – heat pumps have a performance efficiency of 400%. For every 1 kW of power input, they create over 4 kWs of output heat

CONS

Some heat pumps can be noisy

What would be the first steps I should take if I was interested?

As a resident of NSW, you can benefit from a range of energy efficiency upgrades.

Check out the NSW Energy Savings Scheme (ESS), it provides financial incentives to install energy efficient equipment and appliances in NSW households and businesses. The ESS includes specific rebates for hot water heat pumps.

AGL, Reclaim, Cyanergy and Red Energy have useful information on heat pumps:

See for yourself!

Bundeena resident Valerie Etienne replaced her old, inefficient, hot water system with a new heat pump hot water system for only $99, and its saving her a fortune on her power bills!

Valerie_Heat Pump_new_1mn12.mp4

Daniel Debreceny explains the benefits of heat pump hot water systems at the Electrify Bundeena launch:

HEAT PUMPS_LAUNCH_Daniel_10.09.23. 9mns25.mp4

Vera Auerbach and Jonathan Prendergast present an in-depth look at heat pumps at our Heat Pump information night:

Heat Pump Info Night_17.10.23_57mns.mp4

An Electrification Success Story for the Winner of the Heat Pump Auction

Deb Guion, a Bundeena resident, is the proud winner of our recent Apricus Heat Pump Auction. For Ms Guion, getting a Heat Pump was just a natural progression towards having more control over the cost of the energy she uses and achieving a more sustainable lifestyle.

After buying her first house a couple of years ago, Ms Guion quickly invested in a hybrid plug-in car, then solar panels, a modular battery and now a heat pump because “my electricity bills were still too high, even with solar, because of the inefficient technology of the electric hot water system I had. It was a huge tank that, with off peak heating, didn’t utilise my solar effectively. Getting a heat pump was the solution to lower my bills as much as possible.”

Ms Guion couldn’t be more happy with her Apricus heat pump and can already see the savings she is making, “ I was about 70% self-sufficient in the summer months before having a heat pump, and I am now 85% self-sufficient. Adding 15% self-sufficiency to my set-up is a significant saving”.

The all-in-one Apricus 260L capacity heat pump is one of the many models that will help you reduce energy costs up to 3 times compared to conventional electric and gas water heaters, it will also help you reduce your carbon emissions significantly and its real time power usage monitoring means you can now take control of your power bills.

As Ms Guion explains “the heat pump app is very handy because I can monitor the water temperature and control the heating based on when the panels are producing solar, and I can turn the heat pump off when I go away.”

For Ms Guion, it is all about being less reliant on the grid and taking control over the spiralling costs of energy by investing in the right technology. “With my plug-in hybrid, I use about 5 times less petrol and save $300-$400 a month. And with the money I have saved, I could invest in better infrastructure for the house.”

Payback for a heat pump such as the Apricus all-in-one 260L starts from as low as 2 to 3 years, depending on your current system, consumption and electricity prices.

As Ms Guion concludes, it is worth investing in the technology that will help you save and be self-reliant in the long term, “it is a simple solution to put solar panels on the roof and get a heat pump, and there are lots of government rebates that make it really affordable and worthwhile”.

Ms Guion’s success story could be your story too and Electrify Bundeena is here to assist anyone who wants to find out more about how to lower carbon emissions, reduce the cost of the energy we consume and power our appliances and vehicles with clean renewable energy. Please note: our heat pump bulk buy closed on the 5th March 2024.

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