Why Your Water Heater Should Be a Battery

Home Why Your Water Heater Should Be a Battery

Why Your Water Heater Should Be a Battery

How This Heat Pump Water Heater is Also a Battery.

Heat pump water heaters have been around for over a decade. If you follow this channel, you probably know they're three to five times more efficient than a standard electric tank. Maybe you've got one. I do. But here's what most people don't realize. Even if you own a heat pump water heater, it's still pretty dumb. It heats reactively. The tank drops below the setpoint, the compressor kicks on. It doesn't know your schedule. It doesn't know your electricity rates. And it definitely doesn't know when your solar panels are cranking.

Two Boston startups think that's a massive missed opportunity. They're treating the water heater as a thermal battery, a cheap, insulated vessel that can store energy as heat, shift electricity use to cheaper hours, and participate in grid services. One of them, Wilmington, Massachusetts-based Cala Systems, invited me to tour their factory. Their predictive software is licensed from the National Renewable Energy Lab. According to a California Energy Commission study, intelligent scheduling on time-of-use rate plans alone can cut costs by 15 to 19 percent beyond what a standard heat pump water heater already saves.

So I went inside to find out: is a smart water heater actually worth the premium? Or is "intelligent" just a buzzword bumper sticker slapped on a tank of hot water?

Video script and citations: How This Heat Pump Water Heater is Also a Battery

The Cala team has been following the discussion closely and noticed a couple of key points coming up repeatedly that are worth clarifying

Wi-Fi / “always online” Cala does not rely on an internet connection to function - the core controls run on the unit itself. Connecting to Wi-Fi enables additional functionality like software updates, remote diagnostic support, app control, and heating coordination with solar, electricity pricing, and more.

Security / Remote Access Remote diagnostics are opt-in - if you keep the unit offline, no data is shared. If you do connect, all sent data is encrypted and enables our technical team to more quickly detect, diagnose, and resolve any potential issues. There is no subscription and no fee for this functionality!

Get my achieve energy security with solar guide: https://undecided.link/solar-guide

Follow-up podcast: