> My only regret was going with a Rheem heat-pump water heater in this mix. It does not perform well at all.

Heat-pump water heater's performance depends a lot on where its installed and the airflow+heat available. If the water heater is undersized or if there isn't enough heat in the air, it would perform worse than a standard gas/electric water heater.

Mine is installed in a closet under the stairs, which is not ideal, but as long as I keep the water heater in eco mode, and keep closet door slightly open, it works good enough for our usecase. Our annual water heating costs went down from ~$500 to ~$100 after switching to the heat pump water heater.