WiFi water heater.

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FullySprinklered

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Installed my first one today. Too tired to post right now, but if anyone has installed one of these darlings, feel free to pile on. I'll be back later.
 

Master Plumber Mark

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Beware of the Rheem wy-fi heaters from home Depot...
I have installed 2 of them for customers with 12 year warranties
both of them had the digital read outs on the front of them --both were electric units

and I have taken out one of them already and had to change out the whole control assembly
on the other one in less than a year.... Now I have heard that they have a re-call on them

why in the world does anyone need this anyway..???
 

FullySprinklered

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This was a gas w/h from HD. A Rheem. The customer didn't know what he was getting, only that it had a 400 dollar rebate attached to it somehow.
I opened the box and saw a black device on top with a cord on it. I thought the guy had goofed up and got a power vent appliance but that wasn't the case. It is wifi capable, but it doesn't have to be used that way. I mean you could call the water heater and shut it off while your teenager is taking a 45 minute shower if you wanted to. Might encourage them to move out.
The main thing about this machine is the energy saving features. You could probably save enough in a year to buy a six-pack of PBR, and there's a lot of people who would go for that. Just look at the electric cars.
Here's how it works. You hook up everything normally, except you have to plug in the contraption on top of the machine. What you have is a servo operated damper the size of a chocolate chip cookie. Go down to the brainbox with the little blue light, and turn the device on. You have the door and sight glass down there but there's no pilot, and no need to light it. Soon the brainbox takes a notion to light up and the lighter starts making sparks. At this point in time, the chocolate chip cookie rotates 90 degrees, opening the flue. The burner lights, and you're in business. After the burn period, the servo closes the flue and holds in the standing heat. Like I said; six-pack of PBR.
 

Reach4

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How about kicking up the temperature remotely if you are planning to come home and fill the hot tub, or drop the temperature if you go away.
 

FullySprinklered

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Looks like this thing will alert you if it leaks. Try to post more info over the weekend. Still tired.
 

hj

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quote' Looks like this thing will alert you if it leaks.

That means you may have to wait 10 years to see if it really works. Assuming the Internet has not changed protocols, like my Sirius radio, over those years.
 

FullySprinklered

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quote' Looks like this thing will alert you if it leaks.

That means you may have to wait 10 years to see if it really works. Assuming the Internet has not changed protocols, like my Sirius radio, over those years.
It's just another man gadget as far as I'm concerned. Can we just stick to the tried and true?
 

Dana

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WiFi water heaters can serve a useful function for the power & gas grids as well as the ratepayer, if the ratepayer if the local utility regulators allow aggregated demand response markets, but I don't know if that is even a possibility in GA, where the electric utility is a state-wide monopoly. "Grid aware" electric hot water heaters that allow the utility or grid operator some amount of controls have been around in some form or another for awhile now, and wi-fi versions wouldn't surprise me.

Given the piss-poor security of all things wi-fi, having the water heater wi-fi enabled seems like a lousy idea unless you're getting paid to let the utility or grid operator tweak it up or down under peak load events or for stabilizing the grid.

The automated flue damper isn't likely to have anything to do with wi-fi functionality, but may be necessary for the thing to actually hit it's EF test numbers. If the default unpowered state of the damper is that the damper is closed, it can probable be defeated if the homeowner isn't into saving for the beer fund.
 

Dana

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Apparently in the PJM region some demand response aggregators are paying people $100 per year for access & control of smart electric hot water heaters. That has to be worth several cases of PBR! (A church in West Virginia even funded their rooftop solar array with the demand response fees donated by members of the congregation, organized by a Solar Holler. Gotta power the refrigerator for those cases o' PBR some how I s'pose- the stuff isn't potable when warm... :) )

I'm unaware of similar programs being offered for residential gas hot water heaters, but after the 2014 Polar Vortex when gas pipeline limitations hit the front pages, it would not surprise me if demand response programs for gas burners were under development in the affected markets. It's not clear if/when that would ever be available in Georgia.
 
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Beware of the Rheem wy-fi heaters from home Depot...
I have installed 2 of them for customers with 12 year warranties
both of them had the digital read outs on the front of them --both were electric units
One should know that the HD Rheem's write Wi-Fi CAPABLE on the box, it's not included. You still have to buy the WiFi "gadget" for another $150. At least, all the ones here are.

why in the world does anyone need this anyway..???
Leave that up the homeowner. People buy whatever they want, especially if they have money, and you want folks like that, as opposed the opposite. Afterall, I sweat whatever they bring back home into their basement. It's not like WiFi will make the tank worse. I do like their 9-year tanks that have the pretty blue power LEDs on it. I like it when it can tell me if the CB is on or not. That is worth the extra $40-50 over their 6-year tanks.
 
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