Water heaters in the attic...thoughts?

[black2002ls]

Lots of good advice regarding energy efficiency. We aren't energy star in the two neighborhoods that I am building in, so our efficiency measures aren't that extensive. 95% of our sealing is spray foam, exterior penetrations in the sheathing are taped with protecto wrap (a one way moisture wicking barrier) and brick penetrations are sealed with silicone. We polyfoam all bottom plates to the slab (inside only), all penetrations through the top plate and all hot wall sheathing at penetrations and to any framing. Any chase adjacent to a non conditioned space is blocked and sealed with osb/tply/sheetrock.

According to my last 1 story energy audit our target air loss to the outside was 2400 cfm. That house tested at 2000 CFM (this can be skewed if the fresh air vent was open). Just wanted to post that as a real world example for you. We use Fox Energy for our energy audits. I have had some houses test as much as 1000 CFM below our target in the past.

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[Gasser64]

Get a hybrid. Hybrid hot water heaters cut the electricity usage down to something like 1/3 of what it was. iirc, they only have like a 5 gallon tank they keep heated. Can't remember. But I think the idea is, only heat a little bit of water, for on demand hot water. Right before that's used, up, an internal "tankless" hot water heater kicks on and provides infinite hot water. Been a long time since I read about the hybrids though. They're more expensive, but after about 1.5 years its all just money saved. Takes a lot less electricity to keep 5 gallons heated, than it does 30 or 50

[FastFord19]

This us the audit I had done after I built my house.

[fordracing19]

We just mounted a $3500 Phoenix indirect vent in the attic a few months ago. No worries at all and water temp is 160*

[8mpg]

So far Im a big fan of the water heater I got..its a GE Geospring Heat pump water heater. Its in my laundry room in a mech closet but it pumps out 50-55* cool air in the process so it helps keep the house cool. I did the math and according to the energy label on the tank, it only uses like $250/yr in electricity and probably less because our energy prices are cheaper here.

Lowes puts them on sale for $899-999 here and there. Add in a 10% off coupon, local utility rebate and I believe you can do the federal energy credit. Should pay itself off in 2-3 years.