Smart hybrid water heater

[Donald]

My new hybrid water heater has a bunch of electronics in its control box. More that a thermostat. Owners manual does not give the specifics. The display in the WIFI app shows 2/3 hot water and 1/3 cold. Walk by it and it's not running. I have it set to heat-pump only mode. The indicator light is not on either.

I can set a schedule for when I would like it full of hot water so I just set that to 6 AM. What does it think it should be doing the rest of the day?

But if the water heater knows it has 1/3 cold water (via the display) why not turn on and heat it?

It does allow some connectivity to the power grid to tell it things (like the grid is in peak demand and wants to shed things like a water heater) but that is not setup. I am checking but unsure if my power supplier has this kind of option to directly communicate with my water heater.

Have not found an email address for AO Smith to ask technical questions. I will keep looking.

Have not had wife try a bath in Jacuzzi to see if the 80 gallon heater can do a better job of filling the tub than the 50 gallon gas heater did (it was marginal).

 

[mk378]

What does it think it should be doing the rest of the day?

It thinks that typical household usage, you're only going to need use of a full tank at one time of each day. The rest of the time it is trying to save energy. The less hot water that is stored, the less energy will be required to keep it hot.

 

[Wrenchturner44]

@ Donald

A.O. Smith Customer Care =
Tech Support and Warranties:
(800) 527-1953

 

[JohnnyG]

Depending on your ambient temp of installed location, you might just raise the tank temp to max. I did on mine to like 135˚ F, but my hybrid AO Smith is in a very hot Florida garage.
Anyway, my logic was two fold, I'd use less hot water for normal uses, such as shower and hot tub, and the dishwasher/laundry would get hot water when needed.
I've never run out of hot water (also 80 gal) since it was installed, I run it in heat pump mode only, and I have it set to come on at the hottest part of the day.
The electric company can shut it down with their separate box, but I very rarely see that happen.

 

[dlundblad]

The app isn’t always accurate. Ours will be in the red according to the app and we haven’t ran out yet.

I wouldn’t have it set on a timer. It’ll run as needed.

 

[Rand]

I set mine to 150f for max hot water and max dehumidifying in my basement.

 

[Donald]

The app isn’t always accurate. Ours will be in the red according to the app and we haven’t ran out yet.

I wouldn’t have it set on a timer. It’ll run as needed.

I am not sure but I am hoping the "schedule" option will make sure it's got a full 80 gal of at 6 AM but will come on as needed during the rest of the day.

 

[dlundblad]

I am not sure but I am hoping the "schedule" option will make sure it's got a full 80 gal of at 6 AM but will come on as needed during the rest of the day.

Does it have a kilowatt hr tracker? Maybe play around with the settings and see what it is per month.

 

[Donald]

Does it have a kilowatt hr tracker? Maybe play around with the settings and see what it is per month.

My wife thinks I have too many WIFI connected appliances/toys. I have to not be too obvious looking at these apps on my phone.

It does have a option to display KWH usage.

 

[Donald]

So the AO Smith Tech Support responded to my email but did not really explain the details except to say if the tank gets over half full of cold water it will come on to heat the water.

I don't know exactly how my old propane water heater worked as far as how much hot water had to be pulled from the tank before the burner came on.

One of the reasons to get this large hybrid water heater was so wife would have a full 80 gallons of hot water if she wanted to take bath in Jacuzzi. But a full 80 gallons of hot water may or may not be available.

I can set the demand option so it full of hot water at a certain time of day but hard to know when wife might decide she wants to take a bath

 

[Kantaro]

I don't know exactly how my old propane water heater worked as far as how much hot water had to be pulled from the tank before the burner came on.

I believe it was simply controlled by a thermostat? Once the water in the tank drops below a certain threshold, then it fires up the burners. The hybrid heat pump water heaters seem a lot more complex in order to maximize efficiency. Their recovery rate is much lower but if you upsized from 50 to 80 gal, then the first hour rating should be similar as a 50 gal gas tank.

 

[AZjeff]

Do you guys setting your temperature to 135 and 150 have temperature sensing fixtures?

 

[Donald]

I believe it was simply controlled by a thermostat? Once the water in the tank drops below a certain threshold, then it fires up the burners. The hybrid heat pump water heaters seem a lot more complex in order to maximize efficiency. Their recovery rate is much lower but if you upsized from 50 to 80 gal, then the first hour rating should be similar as a 50 gal gas tank.

I think you are right. The indicator in my app goes by thirds. So no hot water or 1/3 of the tank is hot or 2/3 or all is hot water. Today after my wife took a long shower it showed 2/3 cold water but only took 2 maybe 3 hours to recover on heat pump only. Thinking the garage is 70F where the hot water heater is. The temp of the garage makes a difference.

The next time wife takes a bath I might just run the kitchen sink after the bath tub is full to make sure the how water heater is 100% cold water and see how long it takes to recover on heat pump only.

A house full of guests would be one thing that could use up the hot water besides a Jacuzzi bath. If I want guests to stay I can allow the coil to come on for faster recovery. If it's time for guests to go set it to vacation mode with only minimal hot water available.

 

[Donald]

Do you guys setting your temperature to 135 and 150 have temperature sensing fixtures?

I have my hybrid set to 125 F now. My old gas 50 gal was cranked up all the way to maximize the amount of warm water available to fill tub.

If I had little tots I might be more concerned with scalding.

My little tots have since grown into full size grocery eaters.

 

[TheLastWord]

I set mine to 150f for max hot water and max dehumidifying in my basement.

I hope you don't have infants or very old folks in your home. 150F is dangerous.

 

[Rand]

I hope you don't have infants or very old folks in your home. 150F is dangerous.

Nope just me and the wife. It's more like 142 at the sink
If I did I'd still set it at 150 and get one of those hot water mix valves.
Just like an air compressor you get a lot more out of 150 than 125 same size tank.
Also makes it cheaper to run the dishwasher and my warm load of clothes is actually warm.

Hot water is basically free for 7 months out of the year when I would have been running a dehumidifier