In 2022, when his element hot water system was starting to prove expensive, Colin Hoving decided it was time to upgrade to a heat pump. Heat pumps are now widely considered the most effective way to heat hot water but Colin, always an early tech adopter, wanted to get in early on massive savings and contribute to a cleaner world.
Colin bought the Australian designed Reclaim Energy Heat pump as a split system, with storage cylinder and separate compressor, through Same Day Hot Water. He recommends that anyone in the market for a heat pump consider its decibel rating and where to place it in relation to windows, neighbors and bedrooms. ‘One of the advantages of this Reclaim product though, is its quiet operation. At only 50 dB it is whisper quiet. You don’t even know it is running.’
‘It’s exactly like a reverse cycle air conditioner except it heats water instead of air,’ Colin explains. ‘Today I switched it on at 9 am and by 10:30 it had done its job by heating all the water to 59 degrees. Colin’s system uses 60-70% less electricity than his old conventional system.
For further savings, Colin patched in a Wi-Fi timer control so he can now control when the hot water is heated remotely, ensuring it occurs during the middle hours of the day to use of electricity produced by his solar panels. The latest Reclaim version does, however, come with a handy remote Wi-Fi controller, a 10-year warranty, as well as a dedicated app. Colin points out that while being an early adopter does satisfy his practical curiosity, it could come at the cost of missing out on some later improvements.
As an IT integration consultant, he has his own cleverly organised power shed where he has built his own system to monitor all the various circuits in his Killcare Heights house, hot water being one of those. He has had solar panels for 10 years and 2 LG Chem home batteries with a usable total of 19.2 kWh. ‘It’s only when the panels and battery are not producing anything that our power is taken from the grid.’ He also has moved forward to an electric car. He is very happy with his new BYD which he calls ‘a computer with wheels rather than a car with a computer’ and which has its own 80 kWh battery.
You can be sure that when technology emerges for Vehicle-to Home charging, Colin our local tech innovator, will be in the lead. It takes early adopters like him, the practical influencers, to give us at a local level the encouragement to take on new ideas which are clean and smart and make for a healthier community.