American Hometec C10
For green-built homes and remodels, high-efficiency water heaters are one of the most common upgrades, especially in light of recent tax and rebate incentives. Most of the time, this means going tankless, but lately also has included a new crop of high-efficiency “hybrid” tank models. In recent weeks, several new technologies landed on our desks.
American Hometec is touting the coil-less technology of its new C10 electric tankless water heater. The first of its kind in the U.S., according to the company, the technology heats water indirectly with quartz tubes; because electric components are not in direct contact with the water, lime-scale buildup is eliminated, according to the firm, increasing durability and helping to maintain the unit’s 95% to 98% efficiency over the long-term.
Three capacity settings—4.2 kW, 6.4 kW, and 8.5 kW—allow one unit to accommodate multiple needs; it has a rise of .4 – 1.3 gpm. The C10 is the first in a line of coil-less electric and Energy Star-certified gas models that will be rolled out this year.
A.O. Smith Voltex
Manufacturer A.O. Smith entered the hybrid water heater market this week with the introduction of Voltex. Similar to recently introduced hybrid technologies from GE and Rheem, Voltex uses heat pump technology to pull heat from the air and transfer it to water in the tank. It has three operating mode to accommodate varying levels of demand. The Energy Star-rated electric unit uses half the energy of a standard tank-type heater, the company says.
Rheem HP-50 and HP-40
Finally, Rheem, which introduced a 50-gallon hybrid water heater last year, expanded its offerings with the HP-40, a 40-gallon model aimed at smaller households with low hot-water demand. The Energy Star-rated unit has an energy factor of 2.0, more than twice the efficiency of a traditional storage unit. –Katy Tomasulo
