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GE's GeoSpring Hybrid electric water heater

2019-02-24 update: Wrote this back in 2014 and only got around to publishing it now after making some final edits.

After the final repairs listed here the hot water heater worked without issue until we moved a few years later. It felt, and still feels, like this was just one of those products that was launched with known issues and that it should have had some design changes. Instead they kept shipping the same design for a number of years inspite of knowing a number customers would have to deal with them. In this case the condensate pan was made of inappropriate material for the fitting attachment that was intended for use, and the condenser had a design or manufacturing flaw that caused a serious galvanic reaction.

It's too bad that so many people had a negative experience with this relatively new technology given how energy efficient heat-pumps can be.

- Chris


2013

We've had a string of issues with our new GE GeoSpring Hybrid water heater. Many reviews on Amazon mirror our experiences with this product. The idea of a heat pump water heater is great for energy savings but this particular model appears to be plagued by poor design and manufacturing.

GE GeoSpring Hybrid water heater
We purchased a new water header around January 2013 to replace the one that was probably installed when the house was built, some 15+ years ago. The old water heater was starting to leak around the bottom and was already several years beyond its rated life. I live in Massachusetts and there was a rebate for heat pump water heaters. These heat pump water heaters are also supposed to provide a significant cost savings as the heat pump is more efficient than heating with electricity alone.

With the $750 Massachusetts rebate for the heat pump water heater it was appealing to both pay less than a conventional water heater and to get a heater with a lower operating cost. We went with what appeared to be the best one we could find, the GE GeoSpring Hybrid.
Model and unit information placard

Sometime a few days after installation

I noticed there was liquid at the bottom of the heater. It was easy to find the source, there was a large crack in the condensation pan that catches the condensation that comes off of the heat exchanger in the upper red portion of the unit. The threaded portion of the pan that accepts the fitting had cracked, as if it was either too small, the fitting too large, or the fitting had bottomed out. In any case it wasn't something that could be easily repaired. We called GE and they sent a technician.

First GE repair

The GE repair person came and disassembled part of the system and replaced the pan. Installed a new pan and the fitting and all was well.

Can't recall exact details here...

At some point in here the unit started throwing FC errors. Reading online this indicated that the heat pump portion of the system was malfunctioning and GE was called.

Friday - July 18th 2013

A technician from GE came to repair/replace the unit after the FC error. He ended up replacing the evaporator, condensate pan, an array of sensors and wiring harness. After that he refilled the system with refrigerant, put everything back together and hooked everything back up.

The issue with the system was galvanic reaction of the metals used in the condenser. These resulted in corrosion that resulted in the leakage of all of the system's refrigerant. The refrigerant damaged the condensate pan (that poor pan....) which is why it had to be replaced.

That weekend I went down to look at things and noticed some water by where the drain pan connects to the pvc drain. After looking at it with a flashlight it was apparent that the pan had broken again, right at the threads where the drain screws in. This makes the third time it broke when the drain fitting was installed.

The pan was broken three times, twice by GE's own technicians and once by a plumber when the unit was installed.

Week of July 21st, 2013

Called GE service again, explained the broken pan and probed the service person a bit more about the pan breakage itself. It was an uncomfortable call. I was worried that GE might think that I'm breaking the water heater myself, either on purpose or by accident. The service person mentioned that they have had a lot of drain pan breaks with that model and that they are including a fitting with the pan. All new models now come with this fitting. It seems likely that this fitting will help reduce the chances that the pan breaks.

Images of the drain fitting setup and broken condensate pans


Drain pan attachment

One cracked drain pan

The 2nd cracked drain pan

Display panel showing 'FC' error code


The now well known 'FC' error code


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