My Heat Pump Water Heater Provides Free AC - CleanTechnica

The article highlights an innovative benefit of heat pump water heaters (HPWHs): they provide free, filtered cool air as a byproduct of heating water. Unlike traditional water heaters that emit pollution, HPWHs extract heat from the surrounding air to warm water, exhausting only cool air similar to an air conditioner. This process makes them highly efficient, delivering about four units of heat for every unit of energy consumed, resulting in low electricity costs (typically $100-$150 annually). The author has installed multiple HPWHs and, after initially ducting the cool air outside, recently began exhausting it indoors, effectively using the system as a free air conditioner during hot summer days. By increasing the water temperature setting from 120°F to 140°F during peak solar production hours, the HPWH runs its heat pump for several hours, producing cooling equivalent to a small window AC unit without additional electricity costs. This strategy cools the living space during the hottest part of the day, with built-in anti-scald