Water heater with power consumption reporting
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsJay Andrew Broniak, Joseph Mark Brian
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A hot water heater and method that includes power consumption reporting to enable consumers to better understand and control the energy usage and/or efficiency of the hot water heater. Monitoring energy consumption of an electric hot water heater having at least one electrical load that is selectively activated by a controller of the hot water heater includes sensing the amount of time the at least one electrical load is activated multiplying the amount of time by a known value corresponding to a power rating of the electrical load to determine energy consumed, and displaying on a display device an indicator corresponding to the energy consumed.
Claims16
A method of monitoring energy consumption of an electric hot water heater, the hot water heater having at least one electrical load that is selectively activated by a controller of the hot water heater, the method comprising:
- sensing the amount of time the at least one electrical load is activated;
- multiplying the amount of time by a known value corresponding to a power rating of the electrical load to determine energy consumed;
- and
- displaying on a display device an indicator corresponding to the energy consumed.
An electric hot water heater for supplying hot water comprising:
- a cold water inlet;
- a hot water outlet;
- an electric heat source for applying heat to a volume of water between the inlet and the outlet;
- a controller for selectively activating the heat source to heat the water;
- and
- a processor configured to:
- sense an amount of time the electric heat source is activated;
- and
- multiply the amount of time by a known value corresponding to a power rating of the electrical load to determine energy consumed by the electric heat source.
A device for monitoring energy usage of an electric hot water heater comprising:
- a processor for sensing an amount of time at least one electrical load of the hot water heater is activated and multiplying the amount of time sensed by a power rating to determine energy consumed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.