Hybrid water heater?

Personal Finances Building / Maintaining a Home
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Technically you would call it “lukewarm” but it’s still probably hotter than the water you shower in.

OK. The setting on a water heater is usually around 120°, but we actually “hot” shower somewhere between 95° and 105°. The Eco mode lets the water heater “rest” a little at times, allowing the water to cool down, but likely a maximum of about 5-10°, not more. They know there has to be some hot water available, just not as much as during heavy demand times.

So a “learning” eco mode will likely find that you need more in the morning, perhaps less in the day (depends on washing machine), maybe more at night (for dishes), etc. It’ll never get it really right, but it can modulate its behavior somewhat, save a bit of energy, and still be “prepared” to serve you with hot water on demand.

(During a heavy demand period the water will be at max hot, factory set at 120° (but mine goes to 140° - with warnings that it is scalding in big red letters at that temp). In the morning you regulate the temp by mixing “hot” and “cold” water, and it stretches the 40 gallon tank to provide 50 or 60 gallons of “hot”. During a “rest” period it might only be able to provide 35 “hot” gallons - direct through the hot water pipe, no cool mixing needed. But yeah, if you run out then you’re SOL until it rebounds which could be a couple hours.

There is also a vacation mode under the app setting in my previous house, but not on the Rheem (or at least I haven’t noticed.) Presumably that all but shuts it waayyyy down until you come back. I never used it, we always had people in the house when we traveled.

All this experience is with electric heat pumps: furnaces and water heaters. I haven’t had gas or oil since the 80’s. And no, I don’t bother with the Eco mode, we’re always here and our needs are irregular = but I did read the manual and then a bunch of other stuff about it when I got it. Same with the Nest thermostat, too; doesn’t pay to let the house drift down when one of us is always home anyway.

OK, this is almost as long as a CVS receipt, so I should stop. Anyway, I didn’t buy it for the Eco property, I bought it for the overall “heat pump” vs induction heat. If I break even on overall cost that’s enough for me. If I did a little better, OK, that’s fine too.

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I have vacation mode, but have I ever thought to set it while away? Of course not. If I ever do, I expect to forget to set it back - at least right away - when I return. :sunglasses:

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Okay, there are apparently 3 main brands of hybrid water heater, and so far I’m not leaning towards either one of them. I need more input, including anecdotal comments here!

The 3 main brands are:

  • Rheem (sold primarily at local Home Depot stores)
  • A.O. Smith (sold primarily at local Lowes stores)
  • Stiebel Eltron (sold by dealers and online)

@Goofyhoofy How long have you lived with the Rheem? Are you generally happy with it? (sounds like “yes”) Any issues with the wifi connection and their app?

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In May of 2018, we replaced our Bosch tankless NG WH with a nice American Standard 40g 2" insulated, natural gas tanker, hired our local trusted plumber, and paid his ~$2700 bid price gladly… He added a riser stand, drip pan and drain, earthquake strapping, and it’s been fine since. I added a circulating pump later, with the remote valve at the far end of the home, our master bath, where we’d always had to wait on hot water, now, it’s there in no time…

The old Bosch I had installed, originally an Aquastar, but it was too mechanical, so the Bosch worked well for many years. But having our plumber do a current tankless was going to run twice the tanker, so, we went tanker.

Back in 2018, I don’t recall even seeing the hybrids, might have been too soon… Everything else here has wifi links, from the garage door opener (Ryobi) to the washer n dryer (LG), as well as the A/C thermostat and the heat pump A/C unit… Next time if there is one, I’ll check out the latest game…

Trouble free is good, having a local plumber we trust is also good!

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The post I made was in error – removal is the best solution.

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The Rheem is now 6 years old. I have had no issues, other than the failure of the over-pressure valve caused by over-pressure to the entire house.

Unlike, say, my Anker battery app which I look at most every day (new toy) I rarely look at the EcoNet app (Rheem), but it has worked fine. I did get an alert once about floor moisture, but it was the HVAC condensate drain which had plugged, and had nothing to do with the WH.

I also put in a recirc line before I closed up the basement ceiling, but then decided not to use it. I have a 1-gallon “point of use” heater under the kitchen sink which provides instant hot water there at full temp (and to the dishwasher) and is plumbed from the hot water line rather than the cold, so it is always being replenished by hot except for those 20 seconds when you typically stand around saying “Come on, get hot”. That’s a convenience (at an oft used sink) that’s seriously worth it.

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As far as I can tell, Navien doesn’t sell an electric hybrid hot water heater. All their models appear to be gas fired. We have no gas service down here, if I want gas, I would have to dig a big hole under the front yard, sink a 1200 gal tank, and install all the piping and valves necessary, and of course refill it periodically.

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Don’t know… it has yet to become an issue. I think my first one was installed 2017-ish. I live in a pretty warm climate, so extreme cold isn’t an issue I have to deal with. I keep my water heater pretty hot at 130, mainly because I have a giant soaker tub in the master bath, and this ensures that one person can fill the tub, and someone else can still take a shower with no risk of running out of hot water.

I’m actually on my second Rheem heater. The control board on the first one went out after ~6 years of use. It came with a 10 year warranty, so I was able to get it exchanged for the current model.

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Mark you are correct. The Navin unit are tankless - not hybrid. Sorry for my error. I effectively deleted the original post.

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