AO SMITH Faulty Hybrid hot water heaters

To compare the cost of operating a propane hot water heater vs. a straight electric one is rather simple: compare the cost of a BTU of energy from propane to a BTU of energy from electricity. There are about 90,000 BTU in a gallon of propane, and about 3400 BTU in a Kilowatt hour of electricity. Simple arithmetic.

Now if you are looking at a heat pump (hybrid) water heater, the math is a little more difficult, as it is necessary to know the COP of the heat pump system -- which should be in the literature for the water heater.

However, as you now know, heat pump water heaters are considerably more expensive to buy than straight electrics or gas heaters, and more expensive to maintain, so that should be factored in.

Saving electricity costs with solar panels is a wonderful idea. It is also, most often, somewhat illusory unless you have a large enough array to cover most of the yearly cost of your electricity, and have a feed in tariff which closely matches the normal grid tariff. Not all areas do. Do NOT expect your array to power a straight electric water heater, unless you live in a very sunny climate and don't need hot water when the sun isn't shining -- and again, have a fairly large array -- it would take 220 square feet of array in full sun.

Hi, I'll throw in that electric water heating elements can be replaced with smaller and lower voltage elements, if you have a large tank to compensate for the slower rate of heating. Also, DC elements are made, so you can heat directly with solar PV.

Yours, Larry

something isnt right here. I would be curious if you have an oddball model… the AO brands don't replace parts having to do with the heat pump (only part i can see being a "coil") they would replace the entire unit. and I can't see a reason that you would need to keep it in heat pump mode unless you have improper electric service that wouldn't run the resistance elements? typically the heat pump is what fails and the unit just reverts to a standard electric water heater, no fuss really just expensive if you want to replace. if the unit won't turn at all that would typically be a unit replacement, in fact any time there has ever been any issue on the heat pump side whatsoever they have given us an "R" number for unit replacement. something seems to be missing here. What troubleshooting steps were taken with tech support on the current issue?

that looks like the typical model. Non-functioning, especially if they have the ECC error code, will almost always result in a unit replacement (pre approved) if the unit is under warranty period (I think minimum 6 years up to 10) I have never heard of a tech getting denied a replacement number when they call and are unable to get the unit to work with tech support. was there some kind of electrical issue that caused the failure?

I might add — just as a point of information — that many companies decline to work with techs who are not trained and certified on their equipment — for good reason.

the replacement number is a number that tech support gives you when they determine a failure with a technician over the phone that does not have parts available to fix. a failure such as the ECC error code that does not reset, or a tank leak would be the most common things that get a replacement number.

@ethicalpaul

Ok, I 'll bite.

The op stated that he has had:

 "Im on my second heater and its less than 2 years old"

Could be bad heat pumps. I don't know if it could be an install problem, Hot and cold water and electrical I wouldn't think anyone could screw that up but anything is possible.

If he truly is on his 2d HP I would bet AO Smith will balk at a third one.