In fact you can do even better than 60%

Heat pump hot water systems use at least 60% less electricity than an equivalent electric hot water system.  In fact, modelling for the Victorian government showed that our Midea HP170 model reduced energy use by 67% compared to a standard electric hot water system (see source box below).  Our premium brands, such as Stiebel Eltron, do even better.

Not only that, but the Victorian modelling related to the cool region of southern Victoria, so the Midea HP170 will perform even better in the warmer Sydney climate.

How is such great performance possible?

It’s all about harvesting the sun’s energy. The sun warms up the surrounding air, and the heat pump technology extracts that warmth to heat up your water.

Heat pumps only use electricity to run the heat pump, not to heat the water itself. That means they don’t use very much electricity. The heat pump extracts the warmth from the surrounding air very efficiently. And that’s how your electricity bill can be slashed compared to a standard electric hot water system.

But that’s just the starting point

We’re aiming for much higher savings than 60%. We think reductions of well over 70% or even 80% are possible, and we’re not alone.

Here’s how to save even more:

• Set an appropriate tank temperature. Because our heat pumps have a weekly disinfection function to eliminate the risk of Legionella, the water doesn’t need to be kept at the normal temperature of 60℃ the rest of the time.Based on customer preferences, in most cases we set the tank temperature no higher than 50℃. This means that you use less energy to heat up that tank, and less heat is lost through the tank itself.
• Insulate the valves and copper pipes. Quite a lot of heat is lost through the copper pipes outside the heat pump and through the valves. We thoroughly insulate copper pipes and we install a `valve cosy’ on the tempering valve.
• Set the timer so that the heat pump operates at the warmest time of day. It’s up to customer preferences, but in most cases people have showers in the morning. That means we can set the heat pump can be set to run between say 12 noon and 5 pm.

Take advantage of rooftop solar

If you have installed rooftop solar, you’ll have a great opportunity to slash your hot water electricity bill even further. Around 1 kW of rooftop solar capacity is all you need to drive your heat pump throughout the year.

Depending on a customer’s hot water usage patterns, we set the timer to run during the period when your rooftop solar system is generating the most electricity. This means a double advantage: not only is the heat pump operating most efficiently, but it is largely being powered by the electricity you are generating right there on your rooftop.