Touring Bradford White’s Heat Pump Water Heater Factory Was a Dream Come True For This Efficiency Nerd

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The first stop of my heat pump water heater tour across America was an incredible experience that allowed me to see every step of how my favorite technology is made. A lot of magic happens at the Bradford White factory, from metal sheets arriving on pallets to packaged cardboard boxes leaving on trucks with heat pump water heaters inside and everything in between.

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In late August, I journeyed up to Middleville, Michigan. Here, Bradford White has been making millions of water heaters for over a century. I love all heat pump water heater brands (and have hugged them all) and am excited about all the new manufacturers which are getting into the market. But Bradford White has a special place in my heart. First, they have the only factory making heat pump water heaters in America. Second, they are a union factory, and everywhere I went, I saw the pride and craftsmanship that goes into producing a great product from people who are truly invested in their workplace.

I first met the Bradford White team at their International Technical Excellence Center (iTEC™). The training facility, adjacent to the manufacturing facility, is where plumbers, contractors, wholesalers, and manufacturers’ reps from across the US and world come to train on all types of residential and commercial water heating products. Since I am interested in decarbonizing heat pump water heaters, I was excited to see how Bradford teaches installers how to install, program, and troubleshoot them in homes across the country.

Next, we went to the actual factory. I put on ear and eye protection and steel-toed boots and then walked nearly 3 miles over the 1.4 million square foot factory checking out the entire heat pump water heater process. It was a dream come true.

I saw hard-working people and machines bending sheets of steel into the water heater tanks and jackets and then putting the enamel liner on the tanks to prevent corrosion. I saw refrigerant lines wrapped around water heater tanks to carry the warm refrigerant from the compressor that sits on the top of the heat pump water heater to the water heater tank itself.

I watched how the spray foam insulation gets injected into the water heater so that it prevents heat from escaping, which is why a water heater can keep water hot all day and only lose a couple degrees of heat. I also got to see how Bradford White tanks are powdercoated with white paint in a very efficient process, and I saw how compressors were put on top of tanks and married into one efficient unit. It was a little mindblowing to see how much goes into making a machine that heats all the water a home will need, incredibly efficiently.

One of my big takeaways from the tour was the quality control built into the entire water heater assembly process. This is crucial in ensuring that heat pump water heaters work well in customers’ homes once they leave the factory. From testing water tanks twice to make sure they don’t leak, to testing for refrigerant leaks, to an hour-long quality control test as the water heater leaves the factory (where I saw one unit not pass and be taken out to be fixed), Bradford White’s HPWHs went through the rigors before leaving the factory.

Heat pump water heaters are still only a small percentage of the market (though sales grew 35% in 2023) and I could see that reality at Bradford White’s factory, where the gas and electric resistance water heaters had many more units coming down their respective lines. But this is changing quickly, and Bradford White and other manufacturers say their heat pump lines are ready to accommodate all the demand that’s being created as we seek to electrify and decarbonize water heating. I can’t wait to check out the factory again in five years to see how the heat pump line has scaled.

All in all, my first visit to a heat pump water heater factory did nothing short of knock my socks off. I got to observe the dedication and hard work of hundreds of men and women, and the many intricate processes that go into making the water heaters that will save our planet. A huge thanks to Bradford White for hosting me at the factory.

Check out the video below of my tour of Bradford White’s factory and interview with Gregg Holladay (the two of us doing a little heat pump boogie at the end). My next stop on my tour is Chicago, to see a commercial heat pump water heater in action heating water for many apartments at once.

My Tour Across America will lead up to Heat Pump Water Heater Day, October 23, where we’ll celebrate the game-changing decarbonizing technology.

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