You had said in your other posting this hot water heater would be for 2 people and an occasional guest. That is is not big a big demand on a 40 gallon electric hot water heater. Most of the time it will be in standby mode and I don't think you have to worry about making the basement too cold.

I believe the Rheem model allows you to set the operating mode. You could turn off the heat pump mode during the winter if you think it is a problem. I also think during periods of high demand it will default to using the electric elements. The documentation should explain how this works.

What’s the temperature of your basement now and during the summer? I switch my heat pump HWH over to hybrid mode in the winter when my basement temperature drops below 50.

When To Consider Heat Pumps.

https://www.airconditionersductless.com/

The only con to heat pumps is that they do make some noise. However, many current models are as quiet as the inside of a library; most are no louder than mild suburban neighborhood traffic. For most households, they pose a more convenient, budget-friendly alternative to solar hot water as well as to electric and gas systems.

There is a way you can combine solar energy and heat pump for maximum savings.

Hot Water Heat Pumps

Like your air conditioner and refrigerator, a hot water heat pump pulls heat out of the surrounding air. It then uses electricity to move that ambient heat into the water tank.

Unlike conventional electric-resistive systems, hot water heat pumps merely move heat from one place (air) to another (water); they use no energy to create new heat.

Due to this efficient process, every unit of energy that goes into a heat pump yields three units of energy.

Thus, while conventional electric systems are lucky to achieve 100% efficiency (you get out as much energy as you put in), the average heat pumps provides 300% efficiency.

Like the OP, I'm in the mountains of upstate New York. I'm thinking about replacing the resistively-heated water heater with a hybrid one, but was wondering about the economics. The existing one is giving no problems and is fairly new, but the reliability of its brand is reputedly very low. Should I wait until it fails, or should I replace it preemptively? It is in the same utility room as my heating system, which itself is already heated.

It is hard to answer that question. Find out what your our of pocket cost will be to install a hybrid hot water heater after rebates and tax credits. A few months ago I posted this for NJ residents for the deal at Home Depot: NY State may have a similar rebate.

Rheem Platinum 50 gallon 10-year (model XE50T10HD50U1) $1,169.99 (10% off this week)

Federal tax credit: $300

NJ Clean Energy Rebate: $750

Open a new Home Depot Credit card and spend $1000: $100 credit

Net cost after rebates and credits: $19.99

You have to pay the sales tax on the $1,169.99. However if you have Home Depot install it for you there is no sales tax on the tank or the installation.

Then there’s the monthly savings in electrical costs, estimated to be around $25.

Very interesting! Is there a similar program in NY?

Thanks to everyone for all your help, its been very informative. What it seems like is if I go Hybrid mode then I may have to just use it as electric during winter months as the basement is conditioned, and then switch over to heat pump for the spring summer and early fall. The question then is how much am I saving a year and is it worth it. That's something I can weigh myself.

As to your question about NY state, check your energy providers website. My provider does $,1000 rebates and I in the Catskills.

So, add in the $300 tax credit and you‘re basically getting a free water heater.

I had posted above :

"Do your research on the amount of ambient cooling that occurs with a Hybrid Hot Water heater while heating the water. Also, the amount of de-humidification that also occurs.

It will not be an issue other than requiring you to dispose of maybe a half a pint of water daily."

You will not cool your basement enough to warrant not using the heat pump mode. Also, the dehumidification will result in maybe a cup of water a day being removed during the summer months.

Obviously posts by people that have actual experience with Hybrids have not made an impression!

I removed my posts.

It’s a conditioned basement with a heat pump for heating. If I run the hot water heat pump in the winter it will simply force the heater to work harder, defeating much energy saving. There’s no furnace in the basement so this would be the only place the hybrid could draw warmth from. That won’t be the case in the warmer months. At least my perspective on it now

@bryanthegrower, what’s your cost for a heat pump water heater after rebates and the $300 tax credit? What would a regular electric HW cost? They would both have similar operating costs if you never used the heat pump or hybrid modes. I’m guessing with the incentives you’ll save money even if you don’t use either of those functions but you will.

If the basement is mostly underground then the heating requirements are small. Your heat pump even on cold days does not need to provide much heat. The surrounding soil around the basement provides most of the heat.

The compressor in the Rheem model I post is rated at 4200 BTUs. That is the size of a small window air conditioner. Now imagine how many hours a small window air conditioner would have to run in order to lower the temperature of your basement by 1 degree.

If you can purchase the hybrid water heater for less than money than a conventional electric hot water heater, then the decision is easy. You better hurry because some day you won't be able to buy a conventional electric hot water heater in New York.

Wow, I'm shocked at how low the BTU output is. Recovery time for a tank of water using the heat pump only could take all day or completely overnight. Whereas a gas unit with a tank of unheated water can usually recycle completely in much less than one hour.

I understand that these are much more efficient and much less expensive to operate than standard resistance water heaters so that's a big attraction. But electric heaters have slow recovery too. This is even worse. If this were for my house, I may want to oversize the tank so as to have a larger reserve of hot water, exceeding with a good buffer what's normally used at any one time. That way, there's more to use and would make waiting for a reheating less frequent.

If you could find a heat pump model with greater output in that mode, that might be more satisfactory.

I guess if that's the only choice, it's the only choice. I'm happy to have natural gas.

Good luck.

There are 4 settings on our GeoSprings Water Heater - Heat Pump, Hybrid, High Demand and Standard. All it takes is a push of one button to switch between them. It also has a "Vacation" feature that I use to turn the WH off while we're away and then back on the day before we return home.

"For comparison, the cheapest Rheem gas 40 gallon hot water heater in Home Depot has a 36 GPM recovery."

Sure. For many products, performance and price go together. Lower price, lower performance, and the opposite is also true.

I've learned that a quick assessment of relative recovery time can be done by comparing a product's BTU output, in thousands, to its size in gallons. A 50 gallon tank that has a 45K BTU or less capability will recover much slower and provide less hot water in an hour than one that has 50K BTUs or more. I looked quickly and found a "quick recovery" 50 gallon tank with a 65K BTU burner and maybe even larger ones are made. And, of course, continuous hot water at lower flow rates can be had with an instant hot water unit.

Or connecting two tanks in series also will do the same thing. That might be a clever thing to do for an all electric house with more occupants needing greater capacity at times - two heat pump water heaters connected in series, the first one remaining in heat pump mode most of the time to supply warmed or hot water to the second one used in hybrid mode, that feeds the home's hot water pipes.