- My name is Aaron Massey from MRFIXITDIY.com.
And today I'm gonna show you how a water heater works,
and how you may be able to significantly cut
down on your energy bill, by updating your water heater.
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If you followed along with the channel
for a while, you know that I love finding
and testing out ways to improve overall energy efficiency,
in the home.
As an owner of an older home, myself, many of these homes
weren't designed with high energy demand products,
like water heaters and HVAC systems in mind.
While common comfort items and efficiency improvements
might be staples of some new modern homes,
energy bills can easily pile up in older inefficient homes.
So today I'm gonna introduce
you to a really cool new product,
that can significantly improve your energy efficiency,
when it comes to hot water,
and show you some amazing new features that can simplify,
and give you some peace of mind in your home.
Now, before we jump into all that, I'm gonna show
you how the various types of water heaters
work in your home,
because I find that understanding how things work
in your home, is crucial to knowing how to fix
them when they need to be repaired, or replaced.
Now, if you don't care how they work
and you just wanna see some of the cool features
of what I'm gonna show you, no worries,
you can just skip ahead with the time code links down below.
Otherwise, here we go!
In most homes, you likely have either a gas water heater,
or an electric water heater.
Depending on your location, the type of gas
your water heater uses could vary from either propane,
which is typical in more rural settings,
or natural gas which is typical in more city
and suburb locations.
So let's take a look at the differences
between a gas water heater,
and an electric water heater.
In either a propane or natural gas water heater,
the water tank typically has a number of the same features.
If we were to take a look inside at how it works,
here's the critical components,
the gas enters via a pipe connected
to a gas regulator valve,
and thermostat on the bottom of the tank.
Inside the tank, the valve connects to a burner,
directly beneath the tank.
Cold water enters the tank through a dip tube,
which is a long pipe,
that reaches towards the bottom of the tank.
When the thermostat senses the cold water,
it opens the gas valve and ignites with the pilot light,
causing the water heater,
to heat to the desired temperature,
which can then flow out the hot supply line,
to the rest of the house.
The excess heat and vapors created from the combustion
of the gas, flow out an exhaust pipe
that runs through the center of the tank, and out the top.
In addition to those features,
the tank has a couple of other safety features.
The most important feature is the temperature
and pressure relief valve,
which is located towards the top of the tank.
In the event that the water becomes too hot,
or the pressure in the tank, exceeds the safety threshold
set by the valve, this valve will open, and spray water
from the tank to relieve the pressure,
preventing it from exploding.
There's also a drain valve at the bottom of the tank,,
which is used for regular maintenance,
and when repairs are needed.
An often overlooked component of the machine
that most homeowners even know exists,
that can greatly increase the lifespan of a tank,
is the anode rod.
This removable rod is made of a sacrificial metal
like magnesium, and is designed to attract
the corrosive elements of the water, like calcium,
away from the enamel line steel walls of the tank,
and towards the anode rod.
Over time the calcium in the water will eat this anode rod,
rather than corroding the inside of the tank itself.
Replacing this anode rod every few years,
will greatly prolong the life of the tank.
If you don't replace the anode rod,
eventually, the corrosion will eat through the anode rod,
and then it will start attacking the outer walls
of the tank itself, which will lead to tank failure,
usually in the form of a pinhole leak.
Once that happens you'll be forced to replace
the tank often prematurely.
Now let's take a look at what makes
a traditional electric water heater a little different.
It has many of the same safety components
of the gas water heater,
like the temperature and pressure valve,
but it doesn't have a burner or vent pipe,
through the middle,
instead it has two sets of heating elements
at different heights in the tank.
Each has its own thermostat,
and will be triggered to activate,
based on the water temperature at the various heights
in the machine.
Almost all traditional electric water tanks
like this, are 220 to 240 volt appliances.
So they draw a significant amount of electrical energy.
Now let's talk about the typical advantages
and disadvantage of the various types of water heaters.
As I mentioned before, owning an electric water heater
is common in rural areas, because it doesn't require city
or town run natural gas line, coming to the home.
However, the relatively inexpensive nature of natural gas,
as opposed to the price of electricity,
typically makes natural gas water heaters
more cost-effective in the long run.
However, that seems to be changing a little bit,
which is what I'm gonna show you now.
Today I'm gonna be taking a look
at the ProTerra Hybrid Electric Water Heater,
with leak guard technology by Rheem.
Now full disclosure, Rheem did provide the tank
that you're gonna see installed in this video,
for me to test and review.
All of the feedback that you'll see,
and the opinions in this video, are still my own.
Let's take a look at some of the unique features,
on this heater, and how it works.
First of all, this tank replaced
a traditional electric heater at my dad's house,
which is in a little bit of a rural setting.
Each water tank that you buy,
comes with a big energy rating sticker on it.
On this tank, you'll notice that it's significantly less
than the traditional electric tank that it's replacing,
but how can that be?
Well, the answer comes in how this tank can operate.
What makes this tank considered a hybrid,
is that it has five different operating modes
that can be engaged at different times.
So, let's take a look at the different modes.
First of all, a unique feature of this tank
is that it's completely controllable via your smartphone,
via the EcoNet app.
You can set the temperature of the machine,
change operating modes, set schedules,
and monitor your energy usage, right from the app,
making it the first smart home water heater
that I've ever experienced.
The first operating mode we're talking
about is the heat pump mode.
This water heater has heat pump technology
in it, similar to what you'd find
in a mini-split HVAC system,
which means it has the capability to draw heat
from the air around it, and convert it into heat energy,
to heat the water itself.
You'll notice a large exhaust fan at the top of the machine,
that pulls air from around the machine
into it, in order to do this.
This means the machine is using ambient air temperature,
and just the power of the fan, in order to heat the water,
instead of the full electrical draw
of a traditional water heater.
The difference in operating under this mode,
is that it takes longer to heat the water,
than if you were to operate it in the electric mode.
Electric mode is kind of the traditional operating mode
of the machine.
In this mode, the machine operates
based on the temperature setting that you have programmed.
You can adjust the temperature directly on the touch screen,
or via the app.
The water heater will keep the water temperature in the tank
at that setting, throughout the day.
The next operating mode is the energy saver mode.
Now in this mode, the heater can be scheduled to operate
around peak electricity rate times.
Now, many homeowners may not even be aware that the price
of electricity can fluctuate throughout the day.
Now once you understand that and you find
out when those are, you can program the schedule
of the water heater to operate in off peak hours,
when it costs less to run,
which can add up to significant savings over time.
Next, you can elect to put the heater into high demand mode,
via the app.
Let's say you've got family in town staying
with you and everyone needs to shower,
you need to do extra laundry dishes, all that stuff,
high demand mode allows you to have plenty of hot water
on hand, so that you don't have to worry
about someone taking a cold shower.
Now you can also monitor the hot water availability
in the tank at any time in the app,
and know when and if you need to make a switch
to high demand.
And lastly, there's vacation mode,
which is fairly self-explanatory.
If you're headed out of town on vacation,
or you just headed into work for the day,
you can set the heater to away slash vacation mode,
which effectively shuts the machine down,
so it doesn't draw power to keep the water
to your preferred temperature all the time.
If you're rarely home during the day,
or you do a lot of traveling,
this option can add up to significant savings over time.
There's also some cool safety features.
This tank has a safety feature called leak guard technology,
and that feature senses water around the bottom
of the tank, that could be triggered by a tank leak,
and automatically shuts off the water supply to the tank.
It also triggers an audible alarm on the tank,
and alerts you via your phone through the app.
This is an awesome feature for anybody that has a water tank
inside their living space,
as opposed to maybe in a basement,
because if you get a water tank leak,
and you're not home to identify it,
it can cause significant water damage to your home.
If something does go wrong when you're not at home,
and it senses a leak, it'll shut off the water supply.
So while the tank may drain a little bit of the water
that's in the tank out of it, depending on where the leak
is, you're not gonna have a continuous flow of water
until you recognize it.
You also get the alert on your phone,
so that you know if something's wrong.
The app also alerts you for a series of other alarms,
including if the temperature or pressure gets too high,
or the machine requires some maintenance
because of the heating elements or something like that.
You can also forward these alarms to a plumber
or a service technician, so they know in advance,
what the problem is gonna be.
Now, overall, I think this is a really cool product,
and I can definitely see where the future
of water heater technology is headed.
Like most home tech, being able to control every aspect
of your home, via a smartphone, is pretty cool.
I would definitely recommend this product,
if you're looking to upgrade,
or replace your traditional electric water heater.
I think it will significantly save you money
on your electricity bill over time.
If you currently have a natural gas or propane tank,
the necessary work to swap
it all out and replace it with this tank,
may not be worth it for you.
However, if you're also adding solar to your home,
I could definitely see how making the switch to this tank
would be worthwhile.
So that's it for this video, I hope you guys enjoyed
it, and most importantly, I hope you learned something.
If you did enjoy this video,
please hit that like button down below and leave a comment
to let me know.
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And as always, you can find all of my home improvement,
repair, project tutorials and DIY project plans,
on my website at MRFIXITDIY.com.
Thank you guys so much for watching,
and I'll see you next time.
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