VoltsDavid RobertsAll episodes
What’s up with heat-pump water heaters?
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Heat pump water heaters use a fraction of the energy of conventional electric resistance heaters — which use more electricity in a year than an EV — but they're only 2 percent of the market, mainly because they tend to cost more, be slow and loud, and require a plumber and an electrician. Reservoir is a Boston company trying to fix all that, with a smarter, quieter machine and its own plumbers. I talk with CEO Luke Winston-Almanzar about how it works, what it costs, and its potential role in demand response programs.
Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction
03:06 – Why water heaters
06:34 – How gas, resistance, and heat pump water heaters work
09:33 – Size and slow recovery: predictive heating and party mode
15:31 – Installation and vertical integration
22:19 – Cutting electric resistance backup
20:31 – What Reservoir builds and what it sources
23:41 – Tankless gas, virtual capacity, and the booster heater
27:11 – Recirculation, freeze protection, leak detection, and Legionella
32:03 – What it costs and what it saves
36:01 – Placement: small rooms, basements, and cold climates
42:37 – Noise and durability
48:19 – Demand response and virtual power plants
53:22 – A. O. Smith’s CO2 split system and Reservoir’s moat
55:54 – Policy headwinds after the IRA
59:29 – What’s next for Reservoir
