Hey everyone, haven't posted in ages.

As part of my 2009 Geo-system, the installer put in a buffer tank connected to the desuperheater, and a 40 gallon finishing tank with a (new) Air Generate AirTap A7 HPWH.  Even though it was in an unheated basement, it seemed to work well; we never ran out of hot water, and the basement was dehumidified as well.

So, fast forward to now and the 40 gallon finishing tank is LEAKING and needs to be replaced.  Of course, the AirTap has a huge long copper coil that gets inserted into the water tank...

What are my options?
Can the AirTap be moved without damaging the copper coil that gets inserted? I'm sure it's all twisted and coiled up inside the old leaking tank.
Air Generate is out of business so no help there.
Should I just get a regular 40 gallon electric water heater for my finishing?
The new built-in HPWH are like $1000...worth it?

The tank is just dripping at the moment, so it doesn't need changing right away, but in the next few weeks.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Equipment 6 years old from a Manufacturer who is out of business seems a bit of an uphill battle for me. Get a new tank.
Now, which one is more up where you are located (heating or cooling dominated) and what is your to water consumption, and what kind of ROI you consider good.

Heating dominated (just north of Philadelphia)
Might get through 40 or 50 gallons once the wife an dI have showered in the morning. Kid take evening baths, so no worries there. Washing machine is normally cold water. Dishwasher heats water itself plus we only run it once or twice a week. Can't think of any other use for hot water really.

I'm ok with a long ROI, I just don't want a 10 year ROI if the tank will rust out in 5 or 6. :-)



Wonder what I can do with the old AirTap since it does work; I just probably can't get it back into the new tank.

Bite the bullet, get a HPWH. Your consumption is too large, with a 4+ person household.

A highly competent HVAC tech could probably relocate the Air Tap to a new tank by replacing the existing copper tubing in a new tank - would require recovering charge and recharging after new tubing brazed in. I'd probably price that at $500 or more depending on what refrigerant the AirTap uses and whether it is furnished with service ports and charge weight info.

Know that the AirTap doesn't really meet code since a tube leak can result in refrigerant and oil being injected into potable water, so I agree with the advice to lose it. Approved refrigerant to domestic water heat exchangers are double walled and vented such that a refrigerant leak goes to atmosphere, not the water.

Given that you already have part of your domestic hot water load met by geo desuper I have to ask if the cost increment between a conventional storage electric resistance tank water heater and a HPWH makes sense in your heating-dominated application. I have a desuper with a buffer tank feeding a GE HPWH and I like the results, but I'm in Florida where free cooling and dehumdification are welcome 10+ months per year.

It might boil down to whether the HPWH's dehumidification effect is sufficiently beneficial that it minimizes or entirely avoids use of supplemental dehu in basement.