AirTap: have you heard of it?
I heard about the AirTap Heat Pump Water Heater just last week on the radio, and already I want one. It's not cheap, but it is cheaper than the much-vaunted tankless water heater, and it seems to be easier to install and far more efficient.
Imagine a water heater that heats its water–not by gas, nor by electricity–but simply by the air surrounding it. Your power or gas bills would be significantly lower, and you would be doing the environment a service by conserving a considerable amount of energy.
The AirTap™ does just this. Once connected to your existing water heater, the AirTap™ unit acts as a conventional heat pump, using a compressor (powered by a low-wattage electric current) to extract heat from the surrounding air, and then sending this heat through long copper tubes into an adaptor where it is dispersed in your water tank. This, in turn, heats the water to the same degree as would a gas burner or electric heating component, distributing the hot water throughout your home safely and efficiently.
I searched the web for reviews and found very little, though their own website does link to several news articles. This seems to be a little-known product, but what I did find was consistently positive. Here are 2 reviews on Amazon.com. Their record with the BBB is clean, i.e. non-existent.
According to their calculator, a family of 4 will save ~$400/year, depending upon where they live. I estimated that our very conservative household of 11 used roughly as much water as a household of 7 might be expected to use, and found that the AirTap could easily pay for itself in the first year. Since we don't have a freezer or dryer, all of our bulbs are fluorescent, and we haven't used a/c this year, our water heater probably makes up a very respectable portion of our electric bill.
Oh, and did I mention that it produces cold, dehumidified air as a byproduct? Free air conditioning. Based on the figures at the bottom of this article it produces about the same amount of cold air as a 5,000BTU air conditioner. It may not be enough to cool our whole house, but I'm not going to complain.
What do you think?
Have you ever heard of the AirTap?
Do you know somebody who has one?
Would you consider trying it?
Should I get one and tell you all about it? 
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10 Responses to “AirTap: have you heard of it?”
September 29th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
If you are in a climate where the outdoor temperature is warmer than your preferred room temp most of the year and your water heater is electric, this should save a lot of energy.
If you are in a cool climate, it will just be taking heat that you made with your air heating system and putting it in your hot water tank, which means you’ll spend a little more on heating the air in the winter, and less on electricity for heating the water. If your furnace (or space heaters) is electric too, the airtap won’t save you money during the heating season, but it still could in the summer. If you heat your air with a fuel that is cheaper (per btu delivered to the house air)than electricity,then the airtap will probably save you money all year.
September 29th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Thank you. It is my understanding that you can also route the cold air outside during the winter, so you’re not paying more in heat. Likewise, you can keep the cold air inside during the summer to cut your a/c bill a bit.
Also, if your water heater is in your attic, basement or garage, it shouldn’t affect your heat bill.
Surprisingly, they claim that it works very well even where the ambient air temperature is relatively cool, down to 30 degrees, though the efficiency is reduced of course.
September 29th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
Oh, yes, I’ve “seen” these! (Just online, not in person.) I would love to have one but it’s not in the budget.
(And we actually just installed a bran-new water heater when we bought our house less than a year ago, so not likely to be in the budget anytime soon.) I think it’s a brilliant idea, though.
September 30th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Here is an interesting link for a DIY passive solar water heating. In Texas you have enough solar to get this to work. I live in Washington state and doubt we could get enough sun most days to use this.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Green-Homes/2007-10-01/Build-Your-Own-Solar-Water-Heater.aspx
October 1st, 2009 at 9:10 am
I called the utility co about this one to see if there was a rebate. They researched it. The conclusion was it will save energy for anyone who runs the cooling system more months than they run heat. It is not a savings to run in MN
October 16th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
I’m skeptical, especially for northern climates, but I’m thinking about getting one for my new home in NY. One thing that makes me think this will work, even for my area, is the fact that 2 of the big boys, Rheem and General Electric have copied this idea, and are now making heat pump water heaters themselves. Their product is all in one, the water heater tank and the heat pump are integrated. No idea if theirs works better/worse than the AirTap (or competitors).
The Rheem became available this summer, and says the payback period is 3.5 years after you include the federal tax credit (but not state).
Rheem Heat Pump Water Heater (50 gal)
model # HP50RH
http://www.rheemhpwh.com
General Electric will be available next month Nov 2009. It appears to be rated very similar to the Rheem, saving $302 per year for a family of 2.6 (in warm zones of the country).
model # GEH50DNSRSA
http://www.geappliances.com/products/water/heat-pump-water-heater/
November 18th, 2009 at 8:34 am
One serious consideration is what happens to energy bills of whatever type you pay (gas, oil, coal, nuclear) if people begin to reduce usage. Utility companies literally raise rates at that point to raise revenues. A recent example:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389×6977025
Remember when people began to buy fewer gallons of gas with soaring prices, government began to lose money because revenues were based on a gas tax per gallon and they bought more gas-efficient cars? Various jurisdictions began to consider a mileage tax instead either based on odometer readings or very intrusive GPS-type monitoring in cars:
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/04/11/17/2340221/California-Considers-Tracking-Your-Car
Think really carefully about ALL the implications and unintended consequences before spending this much money and assuming all of today’s conditions will remain the same. I hope these devices WILL save lots of energy and money, but look before you leap – and assume.
October 21st, 2010 at 12:27 pm
I own an AirTap; have had it installed in my garage since I bought a new Marathon 50-gal. water heater July 19th, 2008. Have not used the heating elements on my Marathon water heater since it was installed- the AirTap has provided EVERY DROP of my hot water the last 27 months. I paid $549 w/shipping for the Airtap, and $1600 for the Marathon, to install them both on the same day. Paid $2149 total for the setup. My hot water heater is located in my garage, which provides plenty of the “air space” needed by the AirTap for proper operation. You cannot use the AirTap if your hot water heater is in a closet, sorry. The AirTap has worked like a charm, not a single issue. BUT I do have some caveats: We are a 3-person home, a Dad w/two kids under the age of 15. Showers are short- I limit them to 8 minutes, and we never take 3 showers in a row. I don’t wash our clothes in hot water, except for a couple of loads a year with hot water, to get a serious stain. I run the dishwasher no more than 3 full loads per week. Our hot water needs are limited compared to most families. We use less than 3700 total gallons of water every month. That being said, the AirTap/Marathon combination totally ROCKS in regard to cutting the cost of heating water for my small family with below-average hot water needs. Example: The “EnergyGuide Label” on the Marathon electric water heater estimates the cost of heating water per year at $467 for that unit. Allow me a moment to recover from the comedy of that label, compared to what I pay. Less than $30 PER YEAR is what I pay for ALL my hot water. I keep track of the killwatt hours used with a Kill-A-Watt meter, and I know how much I pay per kwh, and have programmed a timer to run the AirTap only during times when electricity is cheaper. The TOTAL amount of money I have spent heating my water is $65.76 over the last 27 months. That comes to about 8 cents per day, compared to if I actually spent what the Marathon EnergyGuide says and would be spending $1.28 per day. To figure out a “payoff time” is a little tricky, but you can figure it’s pretty short, compared to just using the Marathon alone without the AirTap. My take is that if you let your kids take 30 min. showers, the AirTap probably is not for you, unless they stagger them 3 or 4 hours apart to let it recover. If you can control your usage a little bit, the AirTap can be a fabulous device for controlling the cost of heating your water. I couldn’t be happier with mine.
October 22nd, 2010 at 9:32 am
Larry,
Thanks for the very helpful review. We have much greater needs for hot water in our household of 12, but I’m still intrigued. I’m thinking our higher usage provides more opportunity to save as well.
December 8th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
I bought my Airtap when they first came out from Beyond Pollution. I had my A7 for two years before it started leaking refrigerant. It worked great until then. The problem is help with repair is nonexistent. I emailed Airgenerate multiple times, but they never really helped. I found the leak is inside the water heater. Not an easy fix. As much as I have loved this unit, if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t save me money at all.
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