Since buying this place we have now replaced all the water heaters twice.
Backing up a bit: shortly after moving in, the unit for the north side of the house started pinging and popping, so we replaced it, but just a wee bit later the new unit cooked its electronics, so we had to have that replaced (thankfully under warranty). Then in 2017 we replaced the south-side water heater, and in 2021 cleaned up the north heater’s messy plumbing. The problem, though, is that even with all our filtration measures from the well tank down to the tap, sediment is still a thing.
When we lose grid power, both heaters are huge drains on our battery backup, and we did not have a way to remotely shut them down. Sure, we could walk into the closets and throw their switches, but going smart seemed to be the best way to go. We would have remote shutoff capabilities and could program a unit to only heat at specific times. This seemed ideal, as heating in the middle of the night is more expensive since we can’t pull from the solar.
I made a call to our favorite plumbing outfit, Able Septic and Sewer. We each did some research and eventually settled on an offering from Rheem. In early 2023 a crew came out and did the first swap. And if you’re thinking the heater below looks almost identical to the unit in the gallery above, you’re not mistaken. But this unit is indeed smart and, as an awesome bonus, cleanable! That’s right, we can get any sediment that might build up out of it!
The process for the north tank was pretty easy, but for the south tank we decided to not just replace the tank (which we already replaced in 2017), but also move it to another location. That of course meant rerouting a bit of plumbing. The goal was to get the water heater out of the corner of the old furnace closet. Since said furnaces were pulled out in 2018, the water heater was the only thing in the closet and it made sense to move it to the empty spare closet next to where the water softener lives.
Once again, Able came in and handled the plumbing and the heater was moved to a better spot, leaving the closet empty and ready for a remodel.
In the nearly two years since installation, the units have performed as expected; they heat on a schedule, thus avoiding pulling electrons from the power wall or grid late at night. The downside is it’s hard to view historic data on the app, and as of writing this, there’s a bug with the app and I cannot adjust the schedules. I’ve tried everything: power-cycling the heaters, killing the app, re-downloading the app after deleting it from my devices, and now I have a ticket in with Rheem support. Have to see if they have anything useful to say, plus I will ask them about exporting data in .csv format so I can find trends and issues.