Clothes washer demand response by duty cycling the heater and/or the mechanical action

A clothes washer comprising:

• a housing;
• a tub or basket dimensioned to receive laundry items therein;
• a drive system received in the housing configured to effectuate mechanical action to the tub or basket;
• an inlet adapted to selectively provide water to the tub or basket;
• an outlet adapted to selectively drain water from the tub or basket;
• a heater assembly for heating water supplied through the inlet;
• and
• a controller operatively associated with the tub or basket, inlet, outlet, and heater assembly for controlling operation of the clothes washer through various operating cycles, the controller configured to receive and process a signal indicative of the cost of supplied energy and, based on the received signal, is further configured to operate the clothes washer in one of a plurality of operating modes including at least a normal mode where the drive system is configured to operate over a first total cycle time and consume a first amount of energy and an energy savings mode where the drive system is configured to duty cycle so as to operate over a second total cycle time greater than the first total cycle time and consume a second amount of energy less than or equal to the first amount of energy;
• wherein when the cost of supplied energy is above a user selected targeted energy cost, the controller is configured to operate the clothes washer in the energy savings mode.