What’s up with heat-pump water heaters?

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Heat pump water heaters use a fraction of the energy of conventional electric resistance heaters — which use more electricity in a year than an EV — but they're only 2 percent of the market, mainly because they tend to cost more, be slow and loud, and require a plumber and an electrician. Reservoir is a Boston company trying to fix all that, with a smarter, quieter machine and its own plumbers. I talk with CEO Luke Winston-Almanzar about how it works, what it costs, and its potential role in demand response programs.

Chapters:

00:00 – Introduction

03:06 – Why water heaters

06:34 – How gas, resistance, and heat pump water heaters work

09:33 – Size and slow recovery: predictive heating and party mode

15:31 – Installation and vertical integration

22:19 – Cutting electric resistance backup

20:31 – What Reservoir builds and what it sources

23:41 – Tankless gas, virtual capacity, and the booster heater

27:11 – Recirculation, freeze protection, leak detection, and Legionella