In July I purchased a GE Geospring ($700 at Lowes in Seattle) 50 gallon heat pump water heater. I installed it myself in the basement. It’s wired the same as a typical electric water heater, so I just ran a new circuit of 10 gage wire and hooked it up.
Heat pump water heaters make more noise than traditional water heaters. If I happen to walk by the open door to the basement, I can hear it but I don’t consider it “loud.” It makes a little less noise than a dehumidifier, a lot less noise than an old dishwasher, but a fair bit more noise than my new ultra-quietest-one-available dishwasher. I’d guess in the neighborhood of 65 decibels.
Heat pump water heaters cool the area they’re in. I consider that a feature, as the basement is our “cool dry” storage area. Despite the output of cool air, the basement was about 64° before I put the heat pump water heater in and it’s still usually 64° after. That’s because the concrete floor and walls have lots of thermal mass so it takes a LOT of input to change the temps significantly.
A heat pump also dehumidifies the air. It has a condensate drain where the water obtained is drained off. Over the course of a week, the condensate measured about a quart for our family of four. Not huge, not “replaces a dehumidifier,” but welcome never-the-less.
The install docs recommend installing it in a garage or basement and I agree. You could put it in a large closet or pantry, but you’d want to have insulated doors if it’s adjacent to a “relaxing” area of the house.
Thus far, I’m very fond of my heat pump water heater.