HOT WATER HEAT PUMPS: 5 Questions your customers are asking

Heat pump hot water is getting a lot more attention, and for good reason. With electricity costs rising and homeowners looking harder at where their energy goes, hot water is increasingly part of the conversation.

But while customers may understand the basic idea of a heat pump, the questions they ask tend to be much more practical.

Will it actually save me money? Will we run out of hot water? How long will it take to recover after everyone has had a shower? And what happens when it gets cold outside?

Here are five questions installers are likely to hear more often.

1. Are they actually worth it?
For households using a lot of hot water, the reduction in energy use can make a big difference. The real answer depends on household size, usage and what they’re replacing.

2. Will we run out of hot water?
Sizing matters. A correctly sized system needs to account for household demand, peak usage and recovery time, not just how many litres are printed on the cylinder.

3. How quickly do they recover?
Heat pumps generally recover differently from traditional electric cylinders, so system selection needs to match the household rather than relying on a straight like-for-like replacement.

4. What happens when it’s cold?
Not all heat pumps perform the same way as outdoor temperatures drop. Check the operating range and performance data, particularly for colder parts of New Zealand.

5. Are they reliable?
Quality of equipment, correct sizing and installation all matter. As with any hot water system, choosing the cheapest box isn’t necessarily choosing the cheapest system over its lifetime.

How quickly will it recover?

This is where not all heat pump systems are equal.

Compact all-in-one units can be a great solution, but their heating capacity is often lower than a dedicated external heat pump connected to a storage cylinder. That can mean longer recovery times after heavy hot water use.

A dedicated system can give the installer more flexibility around both heat pump capacity and cylinder size, which becomes important in larger households or homes with high peak demand.

For example, Waterware’s Ritter 5 kW direct hot water heat pump can produce around 105 litres of hot water per hour under rated conditions when heating water from 15°C to 55°C.