My $200 heat pump water heater broke after 18 months

I put in a heat pump water heater back in early 2023 thinking it would cut my electric bill in half. Ended up costing me about $200 for the unit after rebates, but the compressor died last month and the repair guy said parts are on backorder for 8 weeks. Now I'm stuck taking cold showers while I wait. Has anyone else had reliability issues with these things or did I just get a lemon?

3 comments

3 Comments

christopher_singh922mo ago

Your $200 after rebates tells me this was probably one of the cheapest units on the market, and that's where most of the reliability problems come from. The higher end models from brands like Rheem or AO Smith have way better warranties and parts availability, plus they're built to last more than a year and a half. You rolled the dice on price and it didn't pay off, happens to the best of us but doesn't mean the whole technology is junk.

the_logan2mo ago

Man, that sucks about the cold showers. I went through basically the same thing with a lower end heat pump model a couple years back. The compressor went out at 14 months and the warranty process was a nightmare. I ended up swapping it out myself for a mid range Rheem that had a 10 year parts warranty and it's been running steady for over 3 years with no issues. The cheap ones just don't have the same build quality or support network. Hope your parts come in sooner than 8 weeks.

juliam407d ago

That's a good point about the mid range models. I used to be one of those people who thought you could get away with the cheapest option and it would be fine, but seeing things like this and reading through this thread has really changed my mind. It makes sense that the cheaper ones cut corners somewhere, and that somewhere is usually in the parts and the warranty support. My brother had a similar experience with a budget water heater and ended up paying more in the long run fixing it twice before it finally died. I guess you really do get what you pay for with these appliances.