Heat pump water heater

Today I was at the electric supply house and their was a heat pump water heater from ge first thing inside the door. It had a label that said upper 4500 watt, lower 4500 watt, and pump 700 watt. Does the darn thing have elecric elements if the pump can't keep up ? Asked the sales guy, not that I wanted one at $1000, just the curiosity of it all.

For warm climate, and southern states, it may be worth it, otherwise it's a scam !
It's an electric hot water heater, with supplemental heat pulled from the surrounding air area, but only if the surrounding area is warm.
Here in the NorthEast, we are trying to stay warm 9 month out of the year. It's good for me, my beer is always cold !

The unit has a microprocessor control and allows for different recovery settings. The heat pump operation is more efficient but takes a long time to recover. The electric elements are for faster recovery but at straight electric prices.

It is a good alternative if you don't have a more cost effective fuel option.

These units should work well for those that have a warm basement due to a coal stove or boiler.