Rheem Heat Pump Water Heaters

[BenPutnam]

I asked Rheem for the specifications for their water heater communication ports so that I could send it a message and tell it to lower the water temperature when the batteries are low and they sent me this cute response:

"the information you are looking for is simply not
available for public use per company policy, under
any circumstances and for any reason."

Has anyone had any experience with these communication ports?

[PNPmacnab]

GE has a similar issue though they do provide a small subset of commands. I'd search forums for GE as most of the commands would follow some similar standard.

[BenPutnam]

I found the GE commands. I'll hook it up to a terminal emulator and figure it out, it's just a hassle.

[Sunking]

It is called Proprietary Protocol and they do not want you messing with it. Only authorized dealers and service techs can get the communication software. You might be able to get it to talk to your terminal emulator, but it will be GREEK, and you do not know the username and passwords.

[JSchnee21]

Hi BenPutnam,

I assume you're off grid? If on grid, could just leave the hot water heater off of the battery circuit. Or use a timer clock to limit run time or a load shedding relay which gets a message when the battery banks are low. Is the water heater smart/cloud enabled? Can you just manually turn it down / off when/if your batteries run low?

-Jonathan

[BenPutnam]

It is called Proprietary Protocol and they do not want you messing with it. Only authorized dealers and service techs can get the communication software. You might be able to get it to talk to your terminal emulator, but it will be GREEK, and you do not know the username and passwords.

I do this for a living, there is no Greek at this level, only 1s and 0s.

[BenPutnam]

Hi BenPutnam,

I assume you're off grid? If on grid, could just leave the hot water heater off of the battery circuit. Or use a timer clock to limit run time or a load shedding relay which gets a message when the battery banks are low. Is the water heater smart/cloud enabled? Can you just manually turn it down / off when/if your batteries run low?

-Jonathan

I am off grid and I manually adjust it hotter or colder depending on the weather but it would be nice if it was automatic.

[PNPmacnab]

If you haven't followed this on the GE. Kept trying to think of the name, green bean. If this link works, it might direct you to others.

http://www.eevblog.com/forum/oshw/ge-green-bean-open-source-smart-appliance-adapter/msg1348352/#msg1348352

[Steeler.Fan]

Rheem has published an API. Some user in the Vera forum has written a plugin for zwave based Vera home automation controller for their ACs. The link to their API is in his post.

[Steeler.Fan]

Looks like you have to have an account with Rheem

http://io.myrheem.com/#EquipmentsController

[Ampster]

For the GE GeoSpring I use IFTTT to set temperatures. I use it on grid with a grid tie solar system. I run it at 130 during super off peak rates to store energy. I do use a mixing valve for safety. During peak rates I set it to 105 just in case we need to take two or three showers during the 2 to 9pm peak rate period. The tank holds the heat very well and I have never had to take ia cold shower. I put it in vacation mode by using the GeoSpring phone application. GE sold that business so there is no support.
I also have two Rheems but they are in tenant occupied dwellings and I have not spent any time with interfacing other than through the Rheem application on my phone. You have to buy the Econet device to get the phone app to work. I did explore the API but I am not good with 1s and 0s so I can't say how it works.