Exactly, I’d be hesitant to use it for even something like a refrigerator even though I realize it’s rated to 15 amps. I understand the desire to get more devices recognize accurately, I put in an hs300 in the bedroom to plug all electronics into and a hs110 which is currently doing my Christmas tree, but at the end of the day I’m not going to put smart plugs all over my house to do what I’m hoping the sense will be able to do on its own eventually
I swapped out my leaking 20 year old WH this past weekend and installed an AO smith 50gallon HPWH. Sense sees the 4500watt load as my old WH but I am still waiting to see if it can detect the HP portion.
My question is AO Smith has a port for plugging in automation equipment but no one has seen an adapter for it, figured I would try on here to see if anyone has found one yet.
Old thread on it: Where can I get more info on this port? AO SMITH SHPT-50 Water Heater
It has detected 2 devices for me, the heat pump and the electric elements when they need to kick in. It is great. I hope it doesn’t decide to combine them.
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I rarely run my HPWH in anything except heat pump mode but if I do the electric rods show as other. It found it in heat pump mode but not sure what part of it as the electricity consumption is far lower than what the econet app shows. For instance Sense will say it used around 1 kWh for a day but the econet app will show 5 to 7 kWh for the same day.
Interesting article I just read on hpwh’s acting like a battery, never thought of them like that.
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How much more efficient heat pump water heaters than resistive element water heating, at converting electical energy into heated water?
My last month’s natural gas usage was 43 therms for $79 charged. This is 4.3M BTU, or 1261kWh equivalent energy for resistive heating. The heat pump would need to be at least 2.4x more efficient at heating water than a resistive heating element to break even assuming the cheapest $0.15/kWh offered by my utility.
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Responding to myself, from the data linked in the article that @shawn provided, the COP (HP efficiency compared to resistive heating) for my local area would be in the 2.5-3.0 range, so a HPWH for me would at least break even compared to my current natural gas WH, but again that assumes that the HPWH would only be on when the electricity is “cheap” at $0.15/kWh rather than when it peaks at around $0.50/kWh; and discounts the amortized price difference between HPWH and NGWH.
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They are 2-3 times more efficient in heat pump mode than standard resistive electric units. They more heat, not generate it. In back up mode, they are resistive hot water heaters, so no improvement.
With data from Sense I found that my HPWH uses just under 1/3 of the power of my old all electric water heater. I keep mine in heat pump only mode at all times.
I also have a secondary benefit. My electric company bills with a demand charge as well. My demand charge has gone down significantly with the HPWH.
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If you don’t mind me asking what water heater do you have? I have a Rheem hybrid and sense has picked it up but it is not recording all of the usage. So I assume it is only picking up parts of the water heater. Rheem has an EcoNet app and according to the app the water heater is using more than twice as much electricity then the sense app says it is
Rheem 65 gallon. It took a while before the water heater was detected, I want to say ~8 months for me. I too have used the econet app and my sense data mirrors the usage. Originally I had my water heater in “energy saver” mode but I learned that energy saver used both the heat pump and the traditional heating coils. After moving to the heat pump only mode I’ve been in a much better place.
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I am waiting for it to pickup the HP portion of my AO Smith, from using the Other when it is on I am guessing 400-600 watts. Would love for Sense to pickup the HP on it but I have only had it for a few weeks now.
I have the Rheem 50 gallon, I’ve run it in heat pump mode from the beginning. I actually complained in the EcoNet app review section that energy saver mode was misleading. I ran it in electric resistive mode for a week just to see the efficiency difference. In that mode Sense labeled it as other.
I’ve only had my Sense since December 1st so I guess it’s still early days.
Watching this for about two years now, and can state that “your experience may vary”. Some folks find many/most of their devise in a month or two, some don’t find most of them after years. Best of luck with your situation.
Thanks to you and other recent responders regarding the thoughts about heat pump water heaters. We have a vintage (22 years old) water heater in our summer camp and definitely need to do something about that in coming months. Sounds like you are glad you made the choice you did, and that will influence our decision.
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I had an oil boiler previously for domestic hot water. I’ve only had my HPWH since April but couldn’t be happier with it. My local electric company gave me a $350 rebate do the decision was pretty easy. I figure if/when something regarding the heat pump breaks it has resistive rods until I get it fixed.
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Huge thanks for that pointer…we should check with the power company for incentives. That could make the cost purchase similar to a conventional heater.
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I also have installed a Rheem last year. If you connect it to your home’s WiFi, you’ll get usage data. It appears my Sense is under reporting, showing only half of the usage data. It doesn’t seem to matter which of the 3 modes I choose:
Automate Savings, Most Efficient, High Demand
I wrote extensively about my experience with this water heater here:
Replaced my failed gas water heater with a much more efficient Rheem hybrid electric with WiFi, its quiet heat pump is also dehumidying and cooling my basement
and in this section I have screenshots of the Sense data versus the Rheem data.
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Same here, sense under reports my Rheem hybrid.
I have a GE Thermospring Heat Pump water heater and it also isn’t being detected. I really wish they would enable detection for such an important device!
Sense sort of found my HPWH, well part of it. For instance my EcoNet app says my HPWH has used 186 kWh this month but Sense says it’s used 25.8 kWh