Wednesday, February 29, 2012

AirTap Heat Pump Water Heater - Review and Information

I own an AirTap and live in Phoenix.  The AirGenerate AirTap is a retro-fit unit which attached to the top of my water heater and uses a copper coil inserted into the tank to heat the water.  It pulls air in from the garage, heats the coil, and exhausts COLD air.


I have it in my garage and bought a new Marathon 50-gal. water heater at the same time, both installed on July 19th, 2008. Have not used the heating elements on my Marathon water heater since it was installed- the AirTap has provided EVERY DROP of my hot water the last 43 months. I paid $549 w/shipping for the AirTap, and $1600 for the Marathon, to install them both on the same day. Paid $2149 total for the setup. Like I said earlier, my hot water heater is located in my garage, which provides plenty of the "air space" needed by the AirTap for proper operation. You cannot use the AirTap if your hot water heater is in a closet, sorry - it needs a large amount of "fee air space" around it to operate properly. 


The AirTap has worked like a charm, not a single issue. BUT I do have some caveats: We are a 3-person home, a Dad w/two teens. Showers are short- I try to limit them to 8-15 minutes, and we never take 3 showers in a row. I don't wash our clothes in hot water, except for a couple of loads a year with hot water, maybe to get out a serious stain. 


I run the dishwasher no more than 3 full loads per week, usually only 2 loads. Our hot water needs are limited compared to most families. We use less than 3700 total gallons of water every month. That being said, the AirTap/Marathon combination totally ROCKS in regard to cutting the cost of heating water for my small family with below-average hot water needs. Example: The "EnergyGuide Label" on the Marathon electric water heater estimates the cost of heating water per year at $467 for that unit. Allow me a moment to recover from the comedy of that label, compared to what I pay. Less than $40 PER YEAR is what I pay for ALL my hot water. I keep track of the kilowatt hours used with a Kill-A-Watt meter, and I know how much I pay per kwh, and have programmed a timer to run the AirTap only during times when electricity is cheaper. The TOTAL amount of money I have spent heating my water is $139.94 over the last 43 months. That comes to about 9 cents per day, compared to if I actually spent what the Marathon EnergyGuide says and would be spending $1.28 per day. To figure out a "payoff time" is a little tricky, but you can figure it's pretty short, compared to just using the Marathon alone without the AirTap. My advice is that if you let your kids/wife take 30 min. showers, the AirTap probably is not for you, unless they stagger them 3 or 4 hours apart to let it recover. If you can somehow control your usage a little bit, the AirTap can be a fabulous device for controlling the cost of heating your water. I couldn't be happier with mine.  No one is better situated to take the biggest advantage of the AirTap, apparently, than someone living in Phoenix who only takes 3 hot showers per day and has their hot water heater in their garage. I couldn't possibly be happier with my AirTap.

You can find out more at the manufacturer's website:  http://www.airgenerate.com/retrofit.php