last time i seen a element twisted up like that the guy ran the tank without water. turned it on. maybe ge tested the thing and had it on to long.
My Geospring
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On the top of the unit. Just have to remove the top cover and use a socket to remove it. They suggest checking it every 3 years. The manual has the instructions on how to check it. GE also claims it is a 10 year anode. Mine looked fine and was still practically new. They give you the specs to check the wear on it in the manual.
The manual says on startup it has some dry fire algorithm. It runs the heat pump for ten minutes and checks the temperature rise to confirm there is water in the tank. I basically never used the elements. Heat pump only mode since day 1. Maybe they need to be used or will good bad. Perhaps they need to burn of some deposits or something.
My Geospring start up instructions
Turning on the water heater.
The first time you press the power button and the
water heater is powered on, the screen will ask
for confirmation that the tank has been filled with
water. The tank must be full of water before the
heater is turned on to prevent damage.
The water heater warranty does not cover damage
or failure resulting from operation with an empty
or partially empty tank. (Refer to the Certificate
of Limited Warranty for complete terms and
conditions.)
If the tank has NOT been filled, vent and fill tank
with water before pressing the
POWER button again.
•
Make sure the drain valve is completely closed.
•
Open the shut-off valve in the cold water supply
line.
•
Open each hot water faucet slowly to allow the
air to vent from the water heater and piping.
•
A steady flow of water from the hot water
faucet(s) indicates a full water heater.
After the tank has been filled with water, press the
POWER
button again
Turning on the water heater.
The first time you press the power button and the
water heater is powered on, the screen will ask
for confirmation that the tank has been filled with
water. The tank must be full of water before the
heater is turned on to prevent damage.
The water heater warranty does not cover damage
or failure resulting from operation with an empty
or partially empty tank. (Refer to the Certificate
of Limited Warranty for complete terms and
conditions.)
If the tank has NOT been filled, vent and fill tank
with water before pressing the
POWER button again.
•
Make sure the drain valve is completely closed.
•
Open the shut-off valve in the cold water supply
line.
•
Open each hot water faucet slowly to allow the
air to vent from the water heater and piping.
•
A steady flow of water from the hot water
faucet(s) indicates a full water heater.
After the tank has been filled with water, press the
POWER
button again
These can be a real bear to remove so inspecting it every 3 years is probably a good idea just to keep the threads from seizing too badly.
Just came across this at the EcoRenovator forum.
Its a duct kit for the red top Geosprings, sold by GE.
http://products.geappliances.com/appliance/gea-specs/GVK8HS
Its a duct kit for the red top Geosprings, sold by GE.
http://products.geappliances.com/appliance/gea-specs/GVK8HS
That's great. Would be ideal for southern states where you can pump the exhaust into conditioned space.
Going to call GE on Monday. It says to call GE to order. There is so much potential with the duct kit.
If I could pull outside air in the summer into mine I think I would cut the compressor run time in half. In the winter I could have it draw warm air from my upper level and exhaust outside. Maybe utilize my dryer vent that is located right next to it that currently blowing hot air outside.
On a related note I came across an interesting article on these on how the earlier units where made in China that were known for problems. They are now made here in America and talking with a friend of a friend who is GE appliance technician said they are really solid with little to no issues showing up.
The compressor/refrigeration on mine appears to be an Embraco from Brazil. Embraco makes extremely reliable compressors based on my work experience with water fountains.
https://operationsroom.wordpress.co...ging-appliance-manufacturing-back-from-china/
« Can a basketball team sell empty seats after the game starts?
Apple replaces queues with a lottery »
Why is GE bringing appliance manufacturing back from China?
December 6, 2012 by Marty Lariviere
The cover of this month’s Atlantic proclaims Comeback Why the future of industry is in America. It features two articles (The Insourcing Boom and Mr. China Comes to America) on how companies are “insourcing,” moving production back from other parts of the globe (primarily China) to the States. They make some interesting points. The Insourcing Boom focuses on General Electric’s decision decision to repatriate a significant amount of its appliance manufacturing to Louisville, Kentucky. Before you dismiss this as a bit of window dressing to provide some political cover, you should know that Jeff Immelt and company are dropping $800 million to make this happen. I’m sure Mr. Immelt likes political cover and good press as much as the next CEO, but he didn’t get to be head of GE by spending nearly a billion dollars on a whim. They really believe that they can make this work.
The article points out several factors that have come to favor producing in the US.
At Appliance Park, this model of production—designed at home, produced abroad—had been standard for years. For the GeoSpring [water heater], it seemed both a victory and a vulnerability. The GeoSpring is an innovative product in a mature category—and offshore production, from the start, appeared to provide substantial cost savings. But making it in China also meant risking that it might be knocked off. And so in 2009, even as they were rolling it out, the folks at Appliance Park were doing the math on bringing it home.
Even then, changes in the global economy were coming into focus that made this more than just an exercise—changes that have continued to this day.
- Oil prices are three times what they were in 2000, making cargo-ship fuel much more expensive now than it was then.
- The natural-gas boom in the U.S. has dramatically lowered the cost for running something as energy-intensive as a factory here at home. (Natural gas now costs four times as much in Asia as it does in the U.S.)
- In dollars, wages in China are some five times what they were in 2000—and they are expected to keep rising 18 percent a year.
- American unions are changing their priorities. Appliance Park’s union was so fractious in the ’70s and ’80s that the place was known as “Strike City.” That same union agreed to a two-tier wage scale in 2005—and today, 70 percent of the jobs there are on the lower tier, which starts at just over $13.50 an hour, almost $8 less than what the starting wage used to be.
- U.S. labor productivity has continued its long march upward, meaning that labor costs have become a smaller and smaller proportion of the total cost of finished goods. You simply can’t save much money chasing wages anymore.
Let’s start with responding to market demand.
Time-to-market has also improved, greatly. It used to take five weeks to get the GeoSpring water heaters from the factory to U.S. retailers—four weeks on the boat from China and one week dockside to clear customs. Today, the water heaters—and the dishwashers and refrigerators—move straight from the manufacturing buildings to Appliance Park’s warehouse out back, from which they can be delivered to Lowe’s and Home Depot. Total time from factory to warehouse: 30 minutes.
This speed has several benefits. First, reducing pipeline inventory from over a month to under a day frees up a pile of cash as working capital is no longer sitting in containers on the Pacific. Second, it makes planning easier. Adjusting to the pace of the housing recovery (or lack thereof) is a lot easier when production volume coming into the warehouse can be adjusted in a matter of days as opposed to a matter of months. Finally, this should allow greater flexibility in modifying product design as engineering changes can move right into the supply chain.
The article also emphasizes the benefits of interaction between design, engineering, and manufacturing.
GE hadn’t made a water heater in the United States in decades. In all the recent years the company had been tucking water heaters into American garages and basements, it had lost track of how to actually make them.
The GeoSpring in particular, Nolan says, has “a lot of copper tubing in the top.” Assembly-line workers “have to route the tubes, and they have to braze them—weld them—to seal the joints. How that tubing is designed really affects how hard or easy it is to solder the joints. And how hard or easy it is to do the soldering affects the quality, of course. And the quality of those welds is literally the quality of the hot-water heater.” Although the GeoSpring had been conceived, designed, marketed, and managed from Louisville, it was made in China, and, Nolan says, “We really had zero communications into the assembly line there.” …
The GeoSpring suffered from an advanced-technology version of “IKEA Syndrome.” It was so hard to assemble that no one in the big room wanted to make it. Instead they redesigned it. The team eliminated 1 out of every 5 parts. It cut the cost of the materials by 25 percent. It eliminated the tangle of tubing that couldn’t be easily welded. By considering the workers who would have to put the water heater together—in fact, by having those workers right at the table, looking at the design as it was drawn—the team cut the work hours necessary to assemble the water heater from 10 hours in China to two hours in Louisville.
In the end, says Nolan, not one part was the same.
So a funny thing happened to the GeoSpring on the way from the cheap Chinese factory to the expensive Kentucky factory: The material cost went down. The labor required to make it went down. The quality went up. Even the energy efficiency went up.
GE wasn’t just able to hold the retail sticker to the “China price.” It beat that price by nearly 20 percent. The China-made GeoSpring retailed for $1,599. The Louisville-made GeoSpring retails for $1,299.
The GeoSpring in particular, Nolan says, has “a lot of copper tubing in the top.” Assembly-line workers “have to route the tubes, and they have to braze them—weld them—to seal the joints. How that tubing is designed really affects how hard or easy it is to solder the joints. And how hard or easy it is to do the soldering affects the quality, of course. And the quality of those welds is literally the quality of the hot-water heater.” Although the GeoSpring had been conceived, designed, marketed, and managed from Louisville, it was made in China, and, Nolan says, “We really had zero communications into the assembly line there.” …
The GeoSpring suffered from an advanced-technology version of “IKEA Syndrome.” It was so hard to assemble that no one in the big room wanted to make it. Instead they redesigned it. The team eliminated 1 out of every 5 parts. It cut the cost of the materials by 25 percent. It eliminated the tangle of tubing that couldn’t be easily welded. By considering the workers who would have to put the water heater together—in fact, by having those workers right at the table, looking at the design as it was drawn—the team cut the work hours necessary to assemble the water heater from 10 hours in China to two hours in Louisville.
In the end, says Nolan, not one part was the same.
So a funny thing happened to the GeoSpring on the way from the cheap Chinese factory to the expensive Kentucky factory: The material cost went down. The labor required to make it went down. The quality went up. Even the energy efficiency went up.
GE wasn’t just able to hold the retail sticker to the “China price.” It beat that price by nearly 20 percent. The China-made GeoSpring retailed for $1,599. The Louisville-made GeoSpring retails for $1,299.
Last edited:
Six-month / midwinter update:
Typical monthly savings for four people are about 180kWh, or $360/yr. With basement temperatures bottomed out at 55F, there is no noticeable increase in electrical consumption.
If anyone gets a price on that ducting cowl, post up, I might be tempted if it wasn't outrageous.
TE
Typical monthly savings for four people are about 180kWh, or $360/yr. With basement temperatures bottomed out at 55F, there is no noticeable increase in electrical consumption.
If anyone gets a price on that ducting cowl, post up, I might be tempted if it wasn't outrageous.
TE
Think you dropped a '0' on the kWh saved. My tuck-under garage runs 45-50°F in Jan/Feb, but my AOSmith in there still runs in HP most of the time.
maple1
Minister of Fire
I've got two meters on my house, one is legacy off-peak meter than only supplies my hot water, dryer and rarely used baseboard heaters, so it's very easy to see the drastic reduction in that portion of my bill since the Geospring was installed, and there has been no noticeable rebound as basement temperatures have dropped. It's hard to make exact month on month comparisons because of variations due to visitors, vacation etc., but my highest bill since July is lower than any bill in the previous12 months.
TE
Typical numbers for a family savings from a HPWH relative to a conventional elect WH (e.g. a Marathon) are 2000 kWh/yr or $300. In line with TradEddie numbers if you add a '0' the kWh figure.
maple1
Minister of Fire
Typical numbers for a family savings from a HPWH relative to a conventional elect WH (e.g. a Marathon) are 2000 kWh/yr or $300. In line with TradEddie numbers if you add a '0' the kWh figure.
Yes, but his kwh number was monthly, not yearly. So his numbers are good, I think.
I meant compared to what kind of heater? I went from an oil tankless coil and save around $1,200.00 a yr.
It looks like a new model is coming out first quarter of 2015. Looks to be charcoal colored. It looks like the new unit will run the compressor down to 35 degrees compared to the current 45 degree shutoff.. They are also releasing an 80 gallon unit.
(broken link removed to http://www.geappliances.com/heat-pump-hot-water-heater/water-heater-reseller.htm)
(broken image removed)
(broken link removed to http://www.geappliances.com/heat-pump-hot-water-heater/water-heater-reseller.htm)
(broken image removed)
My units over 2 yrs old and is charcoal color. I think the difference in colors is to tell between retail stores and supply houses. Also everything has to change in march as that's when the governments mandated efficiencies comes to play. All water heaters will have to have another inch of insulation all around. And any electric water heater over 45 gal must be a hp.
I had a regular resistance water heater before the Geospring. My apologies for the confusing way I expressed my savings. I'm saving at least 180kWh each monthly bill, which is about $360 each year. With the PECO rebate, installation of the Geospring cost me $300 more than my previous water heater, so that's less than one year payback, provided the Geospring lifespan is comparable.
TE
TE
OK, woke up Tuesday with luke HW, went to check on the unit and it was a brick. Breaker was ok, and no signs of life in the unit.
AOSmith 80 gallon Voltex HPWH, installed May 2012. MSRP: $2100
Opened it up, no obvious faults determined unit was getting 240V.
Called AOS service number, and they asked me to get my tools and a meter, and we did a little troubleshooting on the phone. Fuses on control board were blown....I bought replacements, and those blew too in 2 secs. Called AOS back, and once I checked that the board had 240V, and no status LEDs lit, they 'called' the board as bad and fedexed me a new board. I had hot water 36 hours after it went down, and I'm only out the cost of the fuses....<$3.
A bad control board can happen to anyone....we had a 'wicked' power surge last year...my empty outlets were arcing for a second despite my whole house surge suppressor....which exploded. Who knows....I've had a lot of electronics go south in the last year.
AOSmith 80 gallon Voltex HPWH, installed May 2012. MSRP: $2100
Opened it up, no obvious faults determined unit was getting 240V.
Called AOS service number, and they asked me to get my tools and a meter, and we did a little troubleshooting on the phone. Fuses on control board were blown....I bought replacements, and those blew too in 2 secs. Called AOS back, and once I checked that the board had 240V, and no status LEDs lit, they 'called' the board as bad and fedexed me a new board. I had hot water 36 hours after it went down, and I'm only out the cost of the fuses....<$3.
A bad control board can happen to anyone....we had a 'wicked' power surge last year...my empty outlets were arcing for a second despite my whole house surge suppressor....which exploded. Who knows....I've had a lot of electronics go south in the last year.
What do you use for a whole house surge suppressor. An Amazon search leads to an overwhelming number of products...
woodgeek that sounds like a lightning strike or a transformer let go and stuffed it's primary voltage into it's secondary lines. normally a electrical inspector would shut the house down until a electrician with a mega meter could come in and test out all the house wiring.
Can't find the part number now....it was one that takes up two breaker slots in the main panel, with just an LED on each to show that its connected.
The surge was from a transformer explosion during an ice storm, and it was clearly just feeding my whole neighborhood the high voltage grid feed for a second or two. I'd be more worried about the house wiring if anything had been blown promptly (other than the surge supp on the panel)
The HPWH prob just had a defective board...but I'll never know if the two events are related.
The surge was from a transformer explosion during an ice storm, and it was clearly just feeding my whole neighborhood the high voltage grid feed for a second or two. I'd be more worried about the house wiring if anything had been blown promptly (other than the surge supp on the panel)
The HPWH prob just had a defective board...but I'll never know if the two events are related.
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