Heat Pump Water Heater

This is a heat pump water heater that I built, for heating potable hot water. It's based on parts from a 10,000BTU air conditioner, and various parts from the hardware store and refrigeration parts store. It provides about 3kW of heating capacity at 20C ambient temperature.

The song at the end is Carpe Diem by Andy Timmons.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• heat
• pump
• water
• heater
• hot
• air
• conditioner
• R290
• energy
• saving
• refrigeration

[airconguy1]

I thought heat pumps only produced heat around your body temperature, which is why the air never feels hot coming out!

[tesla500]

@airconguy1 That's typical of central heating heat pumps, the cooler the air, the higher the efficiency. You can produce heat at much higher temperatures, the efficiency is just lower. For example, the COP (heat out / power in) of a central heating heat pump may be 3 to 4, this water heater has a COP of about 2.

[Carltech100]

Very nice demo, thank you. I have been putting one of these together on paper before building it. I like the idea of the "pipe in pipe". Never seen it before and am having difficulty in locating a supplier. Could you supply any info? I am in Cape Town but should be able to trace a local supplier from an overseas one. Also, is the piping/tubing made of copper? I have searched under double walled piping and jacketed piping.

[tesla500]

@Carltech100 Thanks!

I made the pipe-in-pipe myself, I just inserted a piece of 3/8" copper tube through a 3/4" IPEX flexible plumbing pipe. I actually did this after coiling both, by "screwing" the copper pipe into the IPEX, but it could be done while straightened out too. The total coiled length is about 7m, which seems adequate for a 10,000BTU/h compressor.

[partypalooza5]

Where did you get the other parts to make this system? (The sight glasses, expansion valve, etc)

[tesla500]

@partypalooza5

I got those from an online store called rparts. You could likely get them from your local refrigeration supplier too.

[MrEnergyCzar]

I got a heat pump water heater for my solar home and it's awesome....I can't believe you built your own....nice job.

[gachu26]

baad

[dos541]

I have a electric hot water heater and wean it turns on you can hear water boiling in it and it is loud boiling wean it first starts then it quiets down a bit is that normal and i ran hot water out of the sink for a while and all the air should be out of the heater i tried to turn down the water temp but that dosent help

[waterwart]

Okay you have saved some electricity to make hot water. But I would like to see something you built that would save money from cooking food. That would be interesting. Maybe....like an electric stove that doesn't use a lot of electricity. Nice videos by the way man. Keep up the good work.

[zolapalooza]

Hmm - nice project if you have the spare time but this could be done a bit quicker if you can get hold of a water source heat pump and make some mods or getting hold of a pool heater which is essentially the same thing. Here in the gulf south of the U.S. there is a company called Florida Heat Pump (FHP) that makes very good water sourced heat pumps.

[slamdvw]

Built one similar for heating an above ground pool. Worked like a charm. Never thought about using a coiled condenser coil though, good idea. Subscribed! Love the videos.

[acnfanmanin]

That is an awsome idea!

[g60scuzz]

Excellent setup thanks for sharing!