# ge hrbrid



## beachplumber (Feb 7, 2010)

Talked to fergie d.m. yesterdaty he said ge is pushing the heat pump on top electric.

Apparently they r on back order

Production is being moved in country.

I know there have been threads on these heaters, but does anyone have new info


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## Scott K (Oct 12, 2008)

It's just a heat pump basically that heats the water instead of an electric element. Some have electric elements for back up or for slighty better recovery. Because of this, the heat pump will heat water more efficiently than an electric element - I've seen around a COP of around 2 to 1 (for every 1 watt you put in, you get 2 watts of heat) give or take. 

The thing that irks me is by the time this tank pays for itself due to the energy it saves, the tank itself will probably be near failure anyways as they are still made out of steel or glass lined steel. But if they made them out of stainless to make them last way longer, they would probably not be as attractive as far as initial capital investment goes. 

OR, you could have a heat pump failure on the refrigeration side of the heat pump which could involve not just a Plumber but a Refrigeration guy potentially to fix it - more complexity, more cost, more potential failure points.

Just goes to prove that green is not cheap.


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