this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2024
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I had never heard of this so I had to Google. It seems the advantages you are talking about don't all necessarily apply if your water heater is outside then, right? I mean, I guess it'll be a bit more energy efficient, but cooling and dehumidifying effects are only if the water heater is indoors, correct? There is not a system to do any sort of interior cooling for outdoor water heaters, no?
Forgive me if these are stupid questions. I hadn't heard about this type of water heater before. I live in a hot climate, but my water heater is in an outdoor storage closet.
Yes, it's for a water heater being inside with sufficient ventilation. If your water heater is currently in a garage or separate area the benefits change.
I'm in Texas, and over 90% of the houses I've seen have the water heater in a closet somewhere inside. Some older builds have it in an attached garage. But if that is the case, there's a good reason to move it when you next replace it, as the garage gets much colder in the winter, costing more to heat the water!
Oh that is true but most of them have systems where you can attach tubes to the inputs and outputs and with enough redneck engineering (which is my upcoming plan once I finish a few other jobs) you can rig up a system to optionally either vent the cooled air outside or with a damper switch have it blow into the air intake of my AC system.
This is easier for me since my water heater is right next to the air intake for my HVAC system.
But, alternatively during the winter you have the option of switching over to traditional electric and even though that will negate the energy savings from the hybrid system it will prevent energy waste from cooling the air that you paid to heat.