My old 80 gallon finally quit working so I took the plunge and went hybrid based on several recommendations. I bought the AO 80 gallon and quite frankly have not been happy with it.
Disclaimer: It was installed in place of my old water heater, located in my basement in a "storage room" under my steps next to my air handler. This room is about 12x12 empty but has several boxes etc. As such, I installed (3) unobstructed return vents in 3 walls leading into other spaces in my basement for airflow.
Since day 1 my wife complains that the water isn't hot enough. I cranked it up to 130 and for a moment I thought that did the trick. What I didn't know is, I told her that if it wasn't recovering fast enough she could click it into Electric mode so unbeknownst to me has been clicking it into Electric every 3 or so days and now she's had enough!
My assumption is that hybrid is used to re-heat the water and maintain temp. I'm not sure if there is some threshold that if the water doesn't / can't recover is some period of time converts to electric OR only if there is a call for hot water and it's not to temp it converts to electric. The point is that my wife is adamant that if the heater has been set on hybrid and we do nothing all day, in the evening when she wants to shower the water is NOT hot enough (she likes it very hot). I never notice because I don't take scalding showers. When she clicks it on electric, she doesn't seem to have an issue. The water heater is designed to revert back to hybrid after 24hrs of being set to electric. Apparently, you buy a hybrid and simply want to use it as an electric you can't.
I don't know if I have an actual issue here. I can only assume that because the temp in my basement is 60ish degrees and/or because maybe I don't have adequate airflow, hybrid can't heat and maintain at 130 degrees. I was told by an HVAC / plumber who installed the thing, that it wouldn't matter because if it couldn't recover in whatever timeframe it would use electric. In other words, it would be hybrid until it needed electric. If this were the case then I figure even if it was set to hybrid and even if hybrid couldn't meet the demands alone, that being set on hybrid would still equal 130 water in the evening with no prior usage?
What am I missing here?
I called AO and they basically told me I probably don't have enough airflow, but couldn't give me an adequate explanation as to why given the electric backup. They gave me an authorization to work for A&E services who are generic contractors to come out and investigate but I figured I'd do my own homework first so I'm asking here first.
Thanks in advance!
Disclaimer: It was installed in place of my old water heater, located in my basement in a "storage room" under my steps next to my air handler. This room is about 12x12 empty but has several boxes etc. As such, I installed (3) unobstructed return vents in 3 walls leading into other spaces in my basement for airflow.
Since day 1 my wife complains that the water isn't hot enough. I cranked it up to 130 and for a moment I thought that did the trick. What I didn't know is, I told her that if it wasn't recovering fast enough she could click it into Electric mode so unbeknownst to me has been clicking it into Electric every 3 or so days and now she's had enough!
My assumption is that hybrid is used to re-heat the water and maintain temp. I'm not sure if there is some threshold that if the water doesn't / can't recover is some period of time converts to electric OR only if there is a call for hot water and it's not to temp it converts to electric. The point is that my wife is adamant that if the heater has been set on hybrid and we do nothing all day, in the evening when she wants to shower the water is NOT hot enough (she likes it very hot). I never notice because I don't take scalding showers. When she clicks it on electric, she doesn't seem to have an issue. The water heater is designed to revert back to hybrid after 24hrs of being set to electric. Apparently, you buy a hybrid and simply want to use it as an electric you can't.
I don't know if I have an actual issue here. I can only assume that because the temp in my basement is 60ish degrees and/or because maybe I don't have adequate airflow, hybrid can't heat and maintain at 130 degrees. I was told by an HVAC / plumber who installed the thing, that it wouldn't matter because if it couldn't recover in whatever timeframe it would use electric. In other words, it would be hybrid until it needed electric. If this were the case then I figure even if it was set to hybrid and even if hybrid couldn't meet the demands alone, that being set on hybrid would still equal 130 water in the evening with no prior usage?
What am I missing here?
I called AO and they basically told me I probably don't have enough airflow, but couldn't give me an adequate explanation as to why given the electric backup. They gave me an authorization to work for A&E services who are generic contractors to come out and investigate but I figured I'd do my own homework first so I'm asking here first.
Thanks in advance!
