Over the last week I’ve noticed my water heater usage (as reported by Sense) has dropped to nearly none, and “Other” is high when the water heater is on. There is still some usage reported, but it’s definitely not accurate.
Water heater was one of the first devices detected, and was previously very accurate. I don’t know of anything that has changed (electrically) in the house.
Should I delete the device and hope it re-detects? I’m not sure if Sense has lost track of the water heater’s signature, or if something has changed about the water heater. Perhaps an element going bad (using less power), or that the water heater is using more power now for some reason.
Suggestions welcome!
(The data dropout was when internet service was out after hurricane Irma, despite not losing power. Thanks Spectrum!)
Anecdotally, here’s what I’ve seen - a quieter house makes it much easier to identify the water heater (among other appliances). Over the summer, it was really hit or miss. I deleted it a few times, and it would always be found again, but never improved.
Now that our weather is cooling quite a bit, the heat pump is on much less frequently (especially when the water heater comes on at 5a/p), and over this past week it’s been identified much more consistently.
Have things changed around the times when your water heater turns on? TV on more frequently, lights, furnace, etc? The changing seasons really alter the electrical pattern of our home, in several different ways.
We are still in a summer pattern here in Central Florida, temperature hasn’t changed much at all.
I’m certain the water heater is on at those times, it’s quite predictable to turn on right after someone’s shower starts, and runs for 15-20 minutes afterward. Mornings are quite obvious, other is up in the 4 kW range, Sense doesn’t see the water heater on at all, and the A/C is not running. Mostly at that time, not much else is on besides Fridge and Always On.
Also quite obvious is the near-complete absence of water heater usage (as reported by Sense) over the last week, as shown in the graph I attached.
My finger was about to tap the “Remove device” button, and I flinched, hoping to get some corroboration from this group if that would be advisable.
While I don’t think deleting it will hurt, I’m also not sure that it helps very much. In some cases, deleting has helped, but for me personally, I’ve not seen that with the water heater.
So, I’d suggest reaching out to our support team about this: https://help.sense.com/hc/requests/new. They can take a look and will have a better idea of what’s going on. It’s possible that they may recommend deleting the device and having it be re-detected. It’s also possible that they may see something has changed with the water heater itself.
My water heater regressed too. It started being identified as “Hot Tub” - which is odd because the water heater is about 4kW, and the hot tub is about 6 kW. I kept telling it “Device not on” and it seems like it may be getting out of that rut. Frustrating though. Not only am I waiting for it to ID devices, it is backsliding on already identified devices.
