Water heater blower leakage detection
AssigneeA. O. Smith Corporation
InventorBrian Thomas Branecky
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and systems for determining a possible leak within a gas water heater. One system is a gas water heater including a blower and an electronic processor. The electronic processor is configured to activate the blower for a predetermined amount of time, receive, during the predetermined amount of time, a measurement of a characteristic of the blower, perform a comparison between the measurement and a predetermined characteristic threshold, and determine, based on the comparison, that a blockage is present within the water heater. The electronic processor is further configured to output a notification in response to determining the blockage is present.
Claims20
A gas water heater comprising:
- a blower;
- and
- an electronic processor configured to
- activate the blower for a predetermined amount of time between a first heating cycle and a second heating cycle of the gas water heater,
- receive, during the predetermined amount of time, a measurement of a characteristic of the blower,
- perform a comparison between the measurement and a predetermined characteristic threshold,
- determine, based on the comparison, that a blockage is present within the water heater, and
- output a notification in response to determining the blockage is present
- wherein
- the measurement is a minimum electrical characteristic measurement of the blower measured during the predetermined amount of time,
- the predetermined characteristic threshold is a minimum electrical characteristic threshold, and
- wherein the electronic processor is further configured to output the notification when the minimum electrical characteristic measurement fails to exceed the characteristic threshold.
A gas water heater comprising:
- a blower;
- and
- an electronic processor configured to
- activate the blower for a predetermined amount of time between a first heating cycle and a second heating cycle of the gas water heater,
- receive, during the predetermined amount of time, a measurement of a characteristic of the blower,
- perform a comparison between the measurement and a predetermined characteristic threshold,
- determine, based on the comparison, that a blockage is present within the water heater, and
- output a notification in response to determining the blockage is present,
- wherein the electronic processor is further configured to determine, based on the measurement, an approximate amount of blockage;
- and
- adjust a period between purge cycles of the water heater based on the approximate amount of blockage.
A method of determining a leak within a water heater based on a characteristic of a blower of the water heater, the method comprising:
- activating the blower for a predetermined amount of time between a first heating cycle and a second heating cycle of the water heater,
- receiving, during the predetermined amount of time, a measurement of a characteristic of the blower,
- performing a comparison between the measurement and a predetermined characteristic threshold,
- determining, based on the comparison, that a blockage is present within the water heater, and
- outputting a notification in response to determining the blockage is present,
- wherein the measurement is a minimum electrical characteristic measurement of the blower measured during the predetermined amount of time,
- the predetermined characteristic threshold is a minimum electrical characteristic threshold, and wherein the method further comprises outputting the notification when the minimum electrical characteristic measurement fails to exceed the characteristic threshold.
A method of determining a leak within a water heater based on a characteristic of a blower of the water heater, the method comprising:
- activating the blower for a predetermined amount of time between a first heating cycle and a second heating cycle of the water heater,
- receiving, during the predetermined amount of time, a measurement of a characteristic of the blower,
- performing a comparison between the measurement and a predetermined characteristic threshold,
- determining, based on the comparison, that a blockage is present within the water heater,
- outputting a notification in response to determining the blockage is present,
- determining, based on the measurement, an approximate amount of blockage, and adjusting a period between purge cycles of the water heater based on the approximate amount of blockage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.