1 Comment »

DIY Hot Water Retrofit Cuts Energy Bill Up to 70%

• Tweet

• Tweet

If you are a homeowner looking to take advantage of the new 30% tax credits to cut your energy bills, here’s a  simple retrofit that attaches to a water heater, costs about $500 and can reduce your heating bill by 50% to 70%. If you use radiant heating for floors, rather than air heating, it would be up to 70%, because radiant heating uses hot water to heat your house.

Made by Texas-based AirGenerate, their AirTap device was demonstrated at the Solar Decathlon, and helped the University of Illinois earn their perfect score for hot water energy efficiency.
The company has done something remarkable: turn any conventional gas or electric water heater into an affordable, effective, heat-pump water heater, more than doubling the energy performance compared with a standard electric water heater.

The unit is just 18″ wide by 14″ deep by 14″ high, and weighs only 48 pounds. It saves energy because it draws heat from the surrounding air and transfers the heat into fluid within a sealed copper coil that is inserted into the hot water tank, heating up the water, so the gas does not have to work so hard.

And to make it even better, the $500 can be reduced not just by the 30% tax credit, but in many states there are additional rebates or subsidies or tax credits.

Image: Prime Plumbing
More HomeDesignFind from Susan Kraemer Journalists on Twitter