Customer Reviews for Rheem ProTerra 80 Gal. 10-Year Hybrid High Efficiency Heat Pump Tank Electric Water Heater with Leak Detection & Auto Shutoff

It keeps water hot just like a standard tank but at a fraction of the cost -- it will literally pay for itself in 3 years. Should be an easy decision for anyone looking to replace/upgrade their existing standard tank.

First month electric bill was reduced from an average of $138 to $92. So it is really efficient. The unit is easy to install and wifi connectivity is simple. The wifi app enables you to monitor status for problems, and also allows you to control settings anywhere from your smartphone. Very convenient to shut down the unit on long weekends or use the vacation mode when your away, and turn it back on just before you arrive home so your not wasting energy heating hot water you don't need. Just keep in mind you will have two by-products from the heat pump side. Condensate water, as it will act as a dehumidifier, and a large quanity of cold (air conditioned) air. So having to ability to utilize that can be a pro or con. You can vent the cold air to a garage or nearby room where it is needed and help cut cooling costs. This unit has several modes of operation, heat pump only, or it can operate as a standard electric unit, or a combination of both, depending on the efficiency level that fits your needs. This unit is a nice alternative to a tankless unit, and because it's electric you have no venting to worry about. The directions that came with the unit are very straightforward and make the install a breeze for any handy home owner.

Model XE50T10HD5OU1 the (U1) is the 4th generation that includes integrated WIFI. Install was straight forward. The location of the water inlet and outlets are on the front or face of the unit. My unit is instralled in an insulated garage next to my heat pump air handler. Outside air temp today was 30 deg.F. garage temp was 60 degF. On initial start up in energy saver mode, the unit dropped a 3,000 cubic ft garage area to 58 deg.F 2 1/2 - 3 hrs after startup, the garage temp was back at 60 deg. and the upper and lower water temp sensors were reading approximately 118 degrees. I'm not certain of the time it took to get to that temperature because I left the area and came back about 2 1/2 hrs later. (I know I could've used PVC for the condensate line and T&P relief valve. I just happened to have tons of left over pieces of PEX.)

I just bought this hybrid water heater mainly because i wanted to lower my energy consumption compared to my current WH which is a huge energy hog. Obviously these hybrid WH’rs are roughly double the cost compared to a traditional WH so I’m hoping it won’t take too long for it to pay for itself in terms of the energy savings i will get from the new unit. We spent roughly two solid days installing my new WH mainly because I decided to relocate the WH from inside my house to the garage. I wanted maximum efficiency and I knew the garage would be a much better place vs being inside a closet like my original WH was. I love being able to control the unit straight from my iPhone. The app itself works great and I had no problem with doing the intial app setup. I also installed a WH recirculating pump because the increased distance in the water traveling through my plumbing was making delivery of hot water to my faucets almost three minutes which is crazy. Time will tell how long this unit lasts. I plan on doing regular tank flushes along with checking of the anode rod every couple of years.

Before anything, I received a price quote from Home Depot's installer to install this hot water heater and installation was nearly $1200.00! Let me start by stating that I am not now or ever been a plumber, I am a Microbiologist. My father was handy around the house and some skills I learned by watching him working renovate a Handyman Special house that was my parents first home purchase. While I can sweat copper joints, you can install this Hot Water Heater without ever using a torch. I used the Sharkbite System for installing this and I will list everything you need to purchase, to install this hot water heater yourself, if you have some basic handyman skills. The most difficult part of the project is getting the water heater into the 24 inch aluminum pan without destroying it. For this one and only part I suggest you get someone to help you lift it straight up and put it straight down into the pan, because this heater weighs almost 180 lbs. I did not get help for this and had to rig up a system to lift it with a hand truck, I dented the pan but was able to straighten it out. Some people are against using any pan at all, but this heater comes with it's own leak detection system that uses a special wire that goes around about one third of the base, if you don't use a pan it is possible for a leak to flow away from the detection wire. When a leak is detected the entire system is shutdown automatically. The list of parts that I am supplying is if your old water heater is the kind with all the connections on top, because the first thing you notice about this is the only connection on top is for your 220vAC connection. List of Fittings to buy: 2 of Sharkbite 3/4 in. x 3/4 in. Push-to-Connect FIP x 24 in. Corrugated Stainless Steel Water Heater Connectors. 2 of Sharkbite 3/4 in. x 3/4 in. MNPT Male Push-to-Connect adapters. 2 of Sharkbite 3/4 in. x 3/4 in. Push-to-Connect 90 Degree Elbows. 2, 5 foot sections of 3/4 in. Sharkbite pipe(I purchased Red for Hot and Blue for Cold) 1 of Everbilt Hose Barb Elbow 5/8 in. x 3/4 in. MIP. This is for your condensation drain line, so be sure to buy however much hose you will need to drain your condensation. I have mine draining into a slop sink right next to the heater. 1 of 24 in. Aluminum Water Heater Pan. Plus anything you will need if you plan on draining it, I just plugged the hole with aluminum duct tape. You will also need 2 Wire Nuts for 220v, I recommend the type with stainless steel inside. The water heater will only fit One Way, because there is a filter screen in the middle of the top that requires regular cleaning, be sure to center the heater right between the two connection lines. After you have cut power and removed your old water heater, you will need to remove the old rubber washers from inside the old connection. They sell washers that say they are for water heater connection, but they don't work, buy one 3/4 in. x 3/4 in Double Female water heater connector and take the washers out of it and install them into your old fittings, they only go in one way with the bevel facing out. Install the Sharkbite Male adapters into your old lines. The rest is cake, just make the rest of the connections and use a PVC pipe cutter to cut the Sharkbite pipe, it's important to have a good straight cut for the Push-to-Connect fittings to work properly. If you removed the old water heater then you know how to connect Power to the new one. I'm attaching a picture for reference. Good Luck! You will save a LOT of money by doing this yourself!

Purchased the 80 gallon model. We have three active teens in the house and they take multiple long showers everyday. I waited to rate this water heater until we had a full billing cycle from the power company. Prior to installing this unit we averaged 2600 kwh per month. Our latest bill came in at 1206 kwh. HUGE savings!! We have our unit set on heat pump only mode, at 130 degrees. We have never run out of hot water. A second bonus to this unit is that it dehumidifies and cools the air in the basement. It was easy to install. It is very tall and top heavy. Takes two people to move it into place. I am by no means a professional plumber, but I had this unit installed with a thermal expansion tank in under 4 hours. The unit is very quiet, you have to go into the mechanical room and stand next to hit to hear the fans. Very happy with our purchase. It went on sale two weeks after we bought it. Home depot refunded the $200 difference, no questions asked. The only hiccup in our experience was with NSD shipping. I live in Central Virginia. The day the water heater was delivered, I stayed home from work to inspect the box and to open the garage door. NSD shipping dropped the heater off in my driveway during a hurricane Florence rain storm and left without ringing the bell. My dogs barked as the truck left alerting me. I was able to cover the box with a tarp to save it from the rain. Home depot again stepped up and refunded my $55 dollar delivery fee. In short Rheem and Home Depot have their stuff together.

Excellent water heater, even better with PUD rebates! Also keeps my garage cool.

This water heater is the best. If you are looking for a water heater you must seriously consider this water heater. Home Depot is the best as well. Over the past week, we have averaged 2.14 kWH usage per day which equates to approximately 23.5 cents per day cost.

A little additional installation in the install process but was really a pretty easy install to get it up and going very quiet running and I get the additional benefit of the heat pump side of it from the cooler air that it puts out back into the basement area so I turned off all the basement cooling vents and just use the water heaters Hybrid heat pump to cool the basement area. Added benefit on the A/C side on the summer :) Looking for the pay back in reduced electric bill and planning on a 5 year pay back covering the higher price I paid for on the water heater ;) P.S. used factory preset setting right out of the box..

We've had the water heater for just a month. Performance has been flawless and efficiency is as advertised (so far). Installation is not too different than that of a conventional unit, it just need a drainage outlet for the condensation line of the heat pump Durability has to be the greater concern for anyone considering this unit since the cost is about 3 times higher than a regular water heater. If we can get at least 7 years out of this thing it would prove a smart decision. Highly recommend buying the HD 5 years labor warranty for $69, which is probably less than the cost of 1 service visit past the first year.

Saves electricity. Energy efficient and heat pump mode do take a few hours to heat up and recover like 3 hours. Have a drain or sump pump near by. Only 10 year warranty but will more than pay for its self. If you have hard water use a water softener. Displays temperatures is nice status.

Had installed in 2 car garage in central Florida (2 weeks ago), that is very hot this summer, using heat pump mode only for max efficiency. Lots of hot water & garage is noticeably cooler. I strongly recommend in tropical areas like Florida where it is hot. I can't get the netapp to work but have not called them yet, and really don't need or want it so I will not gig them on that. Much cheaper than solar for initial costs & uses less than half the power to heat water. I cannot hear it running unless I am right next to it.

I bought this heater to save money, save your patience instead and buy a regular water heater. The reviews about these heaters breaking didn't deter me but they should have. Mine has been installed two weeks and it has never worked correctly. I contacted Rheem to fix the heater but when they sent someone out to look at it they refused to replace the heater stating it was installed incorrectly to building codes. Home Depot says it was installed to code, now I'm stuck in the middle with a broken water heater. Thanks.

I am in love with this water heater! It was installed less than a week ago and it has been amazing. It uses less than 1 kWh of electricity daily. The free app allows me to monitor energy usage, adjust the temperature and change modes. Excluding the first few hours following installation it has been in heat pump mode only and I have plenty of hot water and almost no power use. The installation took a few hours and there were no issues (I had it installed professionally by a local contractor). The unit was in hybrid mode initially so it heated the water using electricity and you can see from the power use report it took a fair amount of energy (it was filled with cold well water) but since I switched to heat pump only it has been a dream. I had some trouble connecting my heater to the app so I called customer service and the issue was corrected in less than 5 minutes. The representative who answered my call was friendly, professional and most importantly walked me through fixing the connectivity problem promptly. My only regret is that I didn't buy this heater sooner!

I looked at the Rheem, AO Smith and Westinghouse 50 gallon units. The Rheem beat the others in price, features, and energy use. When I ordered it online from HD, it was on sale for 10% off. I asked the online agent and she gave me an additional 10% off. It never hurts to ask. Rheem sells the exact same unit under the Richmond and Ruud brand names. After the discounts and the $350 rebate from the electric company, our cost was $700 including tax. When comparing this to the cost of the traditional electric water heater I was considering, the electric savings will pay for the difference in about 4 months. Buying either the 80, 65 or 50 gallon be sure that the model number ends with the numeral “1”. As of May, 2018, this is the latest and most efficient model. This Rheem comes with built in wifi connectivity. A smart phone can be used to control the unit. The phone app reports on how much electricity is used. In our home is my wife, her 93 year old mother and myself. We have an HE clothes washer and use the dishwasher. We are solely using the heat pump and excluding the first day, are averaging approx. $.14 of electricity daily. We have not yet had any problem with a lack of hot water with the 50 gallon unit. Since the greatest savings are found by using the heat pump only, many homes would be better off buying the 65 or 80 gallon unit. I do not know how winter will affect the use of the heat pump. I assume it will take longer to heat the water. I may need to also use the electrical elements then. My garage does get cool, but it does not drop below the operating range of the heat pump. I found it very easy to install. Installing without help, it took me less than 3 hours. Youtube gives plenty of instruction. I installed in a closet in our garage. The Rheem allows for venting the unit thus enabling it to be in a small closet. I used the flexible hoses to connect the water line to the unit and shark bite connectors for the copper pipe. It amazes me that people install water heaters without the drain pan. It only costs $10 – $20 but saves untold headaches and dollars when the heater starts leaking. I used a plastic drain pan. Since I installed with no help, I could not lift and set the water heater in the pan. I laid the unit on its side, put the pan on the bottom and then set it up. A metal pan would have been crushed.

Have had this unit a month now. I choose the heat pump only mode. have temp set at 130. we have sufficient hot water for my wife and I. love this unit. We may have to switch to hybrid mode when we have quests. I installed this in my garage in central Florida. I thought it might lower the temp in my 2 car garage. It does not. That's ok. It never runs long enough to do that. Besides, the outlet air temp is only 60 degrees. Unit is very quiet. FYI, checking status sensors of heat pump shows condenser coils run at 160 degrees F. More than enough to heat water, besides a conventional electric water element has very little water contact area compared to the lower 1/3 of the water tank wrapped with condenser coils. Love the wifi connection.

After a thorough research, I decided to go with the Rheem hybrid water heater to replace my 12-year old builder's special. It is an expensive unit, so I did the installation myself. Although expensive at first, this unit pays for itself with the realized savings in your electric bill, according to the manufacturer. Complying with the Florida Plumbing Code for installing a bottom-fed water heater, I installed a vacuum relief valve and thermal expansion tank in the cold water feed to protect the unit as well. So far, so good! The unit is now running and it's also cooling my garage as a bonus!

Dear Sir/Madam I have this Efficiency Smart Tank Electric Water Heater installed and running good, I could not yet tell how efficient it is only after I receive the next electric bill of ours. I wish sombody at Home Depot would have tell me that the price would drop within one month by $119.01 I would have waited purchasing it.

I've had it installed for a week now. I will update this review as needed. I installed it myself. wasn't difficult. The hardest part was getting it through the doorways in my low ceiling basement. Contrary to some comments, it is quiet on heat pump mode. I cannot hear it until I walk into the room where it's installed, and even then it's just the sound that a fan would make. I like the ease of setting it. No messing with screws and panels and all that. Water is nice and hot and lasts a lot longer than my previous 50 gallon unit.

So far so good. Overall very easy to install and get up and running. Only real issue was with the econet wifi. Had trouble accessing the water heater thru the app but once I called rheem they got everything updated and now it works perfectly. It's very quiet and only runs in heat pump mode and we get plenty of water for 2 people. I have zero complaints and if the usage feature of the econet app is accurate then my electricity cost should be under 10 dollars a montha. Ive only had it up and running for just over 9 days but I Cant wait to see my first power bill. Will update when it arrives. I also qualified for a 500 dollar rebate thru my utility company which is a good amount of money to get back. I really like the ability to control what mode and temperature the water heater is in using the econet app. Definetely exceeded my expectations. If your in the market for a hybrid water heater do yourself a favor and get a rheem. I installed mine in a small utility closet and vented it directly to the outside per the manufacturers recommendations.

This thing is awesome. I was replacing an oil water heater and wanted the most efficient electric possible so I don't use more electricity than my solar panels produce. Installed late Feb in Boston area, been in use for about 7 weeks now. I have it in the default mode and it has never used the traditional electric elements even once yet, heat pump only. You take a shower and the pump kicks on for a few hours to heat the incoming cold water. Low and slow which is why you want the 80gal model. If you run out of water, with smaller tank, then it will have to use the less efficient mode to recover. We have a family of 4 with two full bathrooms (2.5gal/min heads). WIFI connects to my phone and reports energy usage. I use about 4kwh per day which is excellent (1500kwh/yr vs. 4500kwh/yr standard electric estimate). Plus, it will only get more efficient when it gets warmer and more humid!

Water heater has worked flawlessly in my Massachusettts basement. I keep it in heat pump only mode with an ambient temp in the basement of 57 degrees. It takes about 4 hours to fully recover after a long shower (half hour or so long shower) in which most of the hot water is used. I love how I can easily change the mode to energy saver or high demand mode if we have extra company and don't want to risk running out of hot water. The tank itself is very well insulated. The whole family (3 people) were able to take quick hot showers 24 hours after we lost power. This particular unit connects to wifi and can work with the rheem phone app. I see home depot also offers the XE50T10HD50U0 unit, which I think needs you to purchase an additional module to perform this function

We purchased the 50 gallon model and it has worked great so far, been using it for a little over a month now. Has plenty of hot water for 2 people, running it on heat pump only mode, and is costing about $10 a month to run. I installed it in a different place than my previous water heater (the old one was suspended from my rafters above the garage) so it took a couple days or so to get the new plumbing, electrical, and condensate drain routed. I also installed the intake duct so it pulls heated air out of a utility closed so it will run more efficiently in the months when my garage is colder.

Had this installed with the econet Wifi Module. Connected it to my NEST network and can control from my phone along with the hvac. When NEST notices I'm away from the house (location services from my phone) it puts the network in 'away' mode to save energy. I didn't bother to vent it. I may later. It is located in a fairly large utility area but time will tell if the cooler air venting off it is tolerable. It is near a garage wall so I could vent it out there. So far, it seems fairly quiet bu then again, it is behind a closed door in a utility area that gets minimal traffic. The water heater recovers much faster than I thought it would. I leave it on Energy save mode and it takes about 30 minutes to recover. It also has a high demand mode, electric (resistor heat) and heat pump mode. Another nice feature is the leak sensor that alarms on your cell phone (with the econet wifi feature at additional cost). I've posted a photo of the installation. Not that much different than a regular water heater install. It is a bit taller than a tall model 50 gal water heater so make sure you account for that. So far (about a week now) I love it and am so glad I shelled out 3 times the normal water heater costs. If it saves the kind of money I think it will, I'll be very happy.

I got the new water heater up & running, last night. So far, so good. The preculiar layout of the hot and cold water piping provided an installation challenge, but it is now installed and producing hot water, as designed. I will be insulating/covering the hot water pipes, today, and will make my decision later on regarding whether or not to vent the cold exhaust air into a conditioned space. The five star rating is for the current operational condition. Only time will tell how long the heater will last and how reliable it will be.

This is a wonderful product and welcomed option from the typical water heater. Installed in the basement and expect to no longer need a dehumidifier, but we'll see. Not a direct replacement install, but new ahead that it would be a little more time to get installed. Easy start up, the interface is very easy to use, and had hot water in less than an hour. Have been waiting for almost a year for these to go back on sale. Last water heater was a Rheem that was installed in 1993. It was still working fine but I was getting a little concerned that it might be well past it's prime. Plus the energy savings of the new unit made it an easy decision to replace it before it failed. It is very quiet. It does have a fan so it make a little noise, unlike a conventional water heater. One thing to remember is that it does pull heat from the air, so if you have it in a heated space, it may make your heating bill be higher, but, your cooling bill should be lower. ???

I was glad to get a 65 gallon tank, as most other options come in only 50 or 80 gallon versions. One important note to those buying the new Gen 4 models is that WiFi is built directly into the water heater unit, meaning that you do NOT need to purchase the EcoNet module separately. I had no difficulty setting up the WiFi connection. Also, the app (I am using an iPhone) now allows you to track energy usage on a daily, monthly, and/or yearly basis. Other to dos for installation: i) an expansion tank is needed, ii) I used a thick yoga mat as my "vibration isolation kit", and iii) I installed wide-spacing louver inserts that I purchased online into the oddly shaped door to the room with the water heater. The unit is quiet, but not silent, and it does lower the temperature significantly (as well it should if it is working). It heated the water swiftly even on "Heat Pump Only" mode, and no problems with the installation. I haven't had it very long, so no word on reliability or durability.

I installed this alone yesterday in just over 3 hours. I'm a VERY average DIY homeowner, and it was a pretty straightforward process. I highly recommend PEX and Sharkbite for this. I cut a few pipes, but didn't have to use a torch on anything. This is the 4th gen hybrid with integrated wifi. You won't need the EcoNet adapter for this one.

My second hybrid water heater - first was an 80gal AO Smith. Pros: No required minimum ambient temperature for heat pump mode (AO Smith was 55F I think) Quiet Easy to install (I'm no plumber, and did it myself without issue - highly recommend PEX!) Efficient - I run it on heat pump only mode (family of 5) and we have to be mindful of when we run dishes and the clothes, but no issues so far running out of water. Of course I'm in FL, so YMMV

I install this tank a month ago The tank is working now just on heat pump and I always had enough water even the washer was running and in less then 1 hour water temp was already up The big problem was removing the could air produce like result of heat pump running I have to vent the air out because was making the basement to could Lots of condensation was happening whit the duct work whit no isolation Hopefully I can use the air in the summer to cool down a room in the house