Think about it….you may have used hot water for washing dishes, hands, clothes, sterilizing equipment or cooking. Now, how much do you think it costs on your energy bill? 5% ,10% or 15%? Unsure? Don’t worry, you are not alone, most businesses would struggle to answer this question. Hot water costs can contribute up to 21% of your electricity bills1,2 and with the use of conventional hot water systems, you are literally flushing your money down the drains, when you could be using it to reinvest in your business.
Sustainability Victoria suggests that you can save up to 74% by switching over from conventional electric storage hot water systems to heat pump and 39% from gas hot water systems3. To find out more, we met with Ben Cole, distributor for Sanden heat pumps. Ben talked about their new range of hot water heat pump systems which are currently the most energy efficient on the market. Sanden Eco Plus Hot Water Heat Pump System employs ozone friendly -R744 CO2 refrigerant technology that consumes 1kW of electricity to generate 4.5kW of heat (COP~5) which can save up to 80% of your conventional electric storage system, making it the most efficient system in the market, clearly beating the industry averages identified by Sustainability Victoria. This also works seamlessly with Solar PV as it draws only 0.9kW of power.
On top of that, As the Sanden system is highly efficient, you will receive the highest amount of Small-Scale Technology Certificates (STCs) which can be used to discount the purchase price. This is an absolute no brainer as Sanden provides you with the rare trio combination: saving money, protecting the environment and a stable on demand hot water supply.
Now for the boring bit, if you want to understand more about how heat pumps work, keep scrolling down.....
Heat pumps are an efficient storage water heater that draws heat from air, water or ground to heat water. The most common types are air-sourced heat pumps. An air-sourced heat pumps absorbs heat from surrounding air and transfer it to heat water in the storage tank. They run on electricity but is about three times more efficient than a conventional electric water heater. It uses less energy as it just transfers heat rather than generating heat. Instead of using an element to heat the water directly, electricity in heat pumps is only used to run the compressor and to move refrigerant around the system which absorbs heat from the surrounding and transfer to the water.
References
1. http://yourenergysavings.gov.au/energy/hot-water/about-hot-water
2. http://www.energyrating.gov.au/products/water-heaters
3. http://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/You-and-Your-Home/Save-energy/Hot-water/Hot-water-running-costs