Inside Consumer Reports Test Labs: Review of the GE GeoSpring electric heat-pump water heater
You might have recently seen a TV ad showing a troop of snow monkeys bathing in a hot spring that's seemingly heated by the new GE GeoSpring electric heat-pump water heater. "Heating your water in your home any other way is going to seem primitive" the ad concludes as the monkeys soak blissfully in the steaming water.
It's a neat commercial, but what could be most interesting to you is how much money the GeoSpring water heater might save you. GE says the unit could reduce water-heater operating costs up to 62 percent and save the average U.S. household $320 a year.Based on our preliminary tests in a room with an ambient temperature of 65° to 70°F, the GeoSpring has produced energy savings of at least 50 percent compared with a standard GE 50-gallon electric water heater. That would result in annual savings of $280 or higher, based on the $560 cost of running a standard 50-gallon electric water heater and the 2009 national average electricity price of 11.4 cents per kilowatt hour. (This U.S. Department of Energy calculator can estimate your water-heating costs.)

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