WaterDrop Systems Making a Splash in the CHPWH Landscape

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WaterDrop Systems Making a Splash in the CHPWH Landscape

This year's been an exciting year for Small Planet Supply's WaterDrop line. The first factory assembled systems have been installed and system monitoring is has begun, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee toured our plant and distributors have been selectted for Washington, Oregon, California and British Columbia. Throughout 2023 the WaterDrop team has been working on new features for both our current systems and our Phase Change Material projects that are worth learning about. Small Planet Supply and WaterDrop CEO Albert Rooks details these innovations in this blog post.

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Menlo Park: WaterDrop Pre-Manufactured Plug and Play Central Heat Pump Water System Proves Off-Site Construction Works

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Menlo Park: WaterDrop Pre-Manufactured Plug and Play Central Heat Pump Water System Proves Off-Site Construction Works

Last month WaterDrop Systems completed installation and “handed over the keys” to a 14-skid pair project utilizing pre-manufactured plug and play heat pump water heater systems in Menlo Park, California.  This project was the first large scale system manufactured by WaterDrop Systems. At this monumental moment, it seemed like a good time to share the history of how these systems progressed from an idea to reality. We also thought it would be a great chance to give a virtual tour of the installed skids in Menlo.

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Governor Inslee Tours WaterDrop's Manufacturing Plant

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Governor Inslee Tours WaterDrop's Manufacturing Plant

On Friday, September 8, Governor Jay Inslee and his wife, First Lady Trudi Inslee, visited our WaterDrop manufacturing plant for a tour. The purpose of the tour was to demonstrate to the Governor the innovative water heating technology that is being produced almost in his backyard.  It was also an opportunity to showcase the partners and agencies who have helped move the WaterDrop system from an idea into a reality.

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Harvest Thermal: Adds Intelligence to Hydronic Systems

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Harvest Thermal: Adds Intelligence to Hydronic Systems

The world of smart technologies is moving forward at an alarming pace. Sometimes it isn’t easy or economical to retrofit an entirely new “smart” system, or maybe you want to install a system that boasts some of the highest efficiency in the market but doesn’t come with “smart” features out of the box. Harvest Thermal can help bridge the gap from a basic hydronic combi system to an optimized smart system poised to harness the most energy from a heat pump water heater and take advantage of the growing implementation of demand/response utilities program. I had the chance to sit down with Pierre Delforge, Head of Operations and Product at Harvest Thermal, and pick his brain on how this new system came about and how it can benefit homeowners.

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SANCO2's New Cold Climate Heat Pump Water Heater

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SANCO2's New Cold Climate Heat Pump Water Heater

SANCO2 heat pump water heaters make for a super-efficient domestic hot water system (so great in fact, that they are a key component of the WaterDrop System, learn more here). These heat pumps work in a wide range of climates and are very efficient down to -27*f. Being used in such cold temperatures brings a common issue however, and that is the issue of ice. Read on to learn more about what’s happening to these units in super cold climates, and what ECO2 Systems has done to remedy the problem.

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Eklund Innovation Center Dedication for Our Tumwater WaterDrop DHWP Systems

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Eklund Innovation Center Dedication for Our Tumwater WaterDrop DHWP Systems

At the end of May, Small Planet Supply gathered with a small group of friends and colleagues to celebrate the official opening of the Eklund Innovation Center. The Eklund Innovation Center presently serves as the assembly plant for WaterDrop DHW plant systems and is named after Ken Eklund. Ken was dedicated to saving the planet and working to find ways to increase energy efficiency, harness natural energy and reduce carbon to protect the planet he loved. Ken was instrumental in working to bring SANCO2 heat pump water heaters (back then they were manufactured by Sanden) from Japan.

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SANCO2 Heat Pumps: A New Generation for The Electrification Era

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SANCO2 Heat Pumps: A New Generation for The Electrification Era

If you’re familiar with SANCO2 heat pump water heaters already, you know about the many great benefits they bring to the field of domestic water heating. Highly efficient with COPs approaching 5, hot water provided at ambient temperatures down to -14F, and of course the namesake CO2 refrigerant which is the lowest polluting and safest refrigerant on the market. SANCO2, previously made under the name of Sanden is now under the new flag of ECO2 Systems, and the new 4th generation of heat pumps is coming to market under that name. Worried about the changes? You shouldn’t be!

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Using SANCO2 in Multi-Family Buildings to Get off Gas

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Using SANCO2 in Multi-Family Buildings to Get off Gas

Multifamily domestic hot water design need not be a complicated or expensive array of water heaters for each residence. A tidy and efficient design can be provided by a centralized heat pump system. To best achieve this, enter the SANCO2 hot water heat pump. These two-component systems can be used as building blocks of a much larger central DHW plant. The SANCO2 also boasts increased efficiency over electric heating element tanks, and lower global warming potential than natural gas and even other heat pump water heaters. Using a centralized DHW plant design, rather than individual units for each residence, the cost is spread out while still providing steady hot water to residents. Consider meeting new energy codes with a centralized hot water heat pump system that provides higher energy efficiency and a carbon free heating system.

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