Water heater with hardness detection system
AssigneeRheem Manufacturing Company
InventorsTroy Trant, Robert D. Brown, Edward D. Turner
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tankless water heater including a water inlet, a water outlet, a conductivity sensor, a temperature sensor, and a heating chamber connected to the water inlet and the water outlet wherein the heating chamber is configured to heat a flow of water received from the water inlet and output the flow of water to the water outlet. The water heating system can further include a controller communicably coupled to the conductivity sensor and the temperature sensor, where the controller calculates an adjusted conductivity of a flow of water through the water heater.
Claims20
A non-transitory, computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause a controller to:
- receive sensor data from one or more sensors of a water heater appliance, the one or more sensors including a conductivity sensor of a water heater appliance and the sensor data including raw conductivity data from the conductivity sensor;
- determine calculated conductivity data based at least in part on the sensor data;
- output instructions for initiating a descaling cycle based at least in part on the calculated conductivity data;
- subsequent to initiation of the descaling cycle, output instructions for terminating the descaling cycle in response to determining that an increase in the calculated conductivity data has stopped.
A water heater comprising:
- a water inlet;
- a water outlet;
- a heating chamber connected to the water inlet and the water outlet, wherein the heating chamber is configured to heat a flow of water received from the water inlet and output the flow of water to the water outlet;
- a conductivity sensor configured to measure an electrical conductivity of the flow of water and output raw conductivity data indicative of the electrical conductivity of the flow of water;
- and
- a controller configured to:
- receive the raw conductivity data from the conductivity sensor;
- determine calculated conductivity data based at least in part on the raw conductivity data;
- output instructions for initiating a descaling cycle based at least in part on the calculated conductivity data;
- subsequent to initiation of the descaling cycle, output instructions for terminating the descaling cycle in response to determining that an increase in the calculated conductivity data has stopped.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.