Heat pump water heaters need a lot of warm air to work. Several hundred cubic feet in fact, a lot more space than is in a closet or a small basement room. In addition to the height, this is another reason you might not be able to install one of the new water heaters where your current water heater lives. Oh, and whatever room you do end up putting it in is going to be as cold as a freezer.
Many installations that were once a one-person job may now require two people, Sanborn added. As water heaters get larger and heavier, they prove to be too awkward to handle by one person. This is especially true when talking about those models over 55 gallons. Service trucks may also need to change to accommodate transporting the taller, wider and heavier equipment.
Price of installation is going up, in other words. After all, it's only the peasant's money, isn't it?
While all affected models will see an increase in the EF requirement, the most dramatic changes are in larger capacity models. Thats because the only technologies that now meet the EF requirements over 55 gallons are electric heat pump water heaters and high-efficiency condensing gas water heaters.
The best legislation that money can buy.
Somebody made a killing in the stock market, after the CONgresscritters that wrote the bill made a killing in the stock market...
That'd be a godsend in our situation...the WH is in the garage, and since we live in the low desert, that area approaches 110 degrees for many moons.
Heat kills batteries, and as things are now a "five year" car battery lasts two to two and a half at most.