Existing gas or electric water heaters can become inefficient through the overheating of water and through parasitic heat loss. These inefficiencies are able to be solved by monitoring when a home uses hot water. AquAdapt is a smart sensor which is capable of attaching to any existing residential gas or electric water heater. By constantly monitoring the temperature change of a home water heater, the first law of thermodynamics can be used to relate temperature change to the amount of hot water leaving the water heater. Utilizing this information, a schedule can be generated to optimize the heating of home hot water. Regulating the on-off state of a water heater based on the household’s learned usage pattern, allows AquAdapt to reduce residential water heating energy consumption by up to 33%. With a final product cost of $60, the return on investment of AquAdapt is estimated to be 8 months.
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