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    Need help for WiFi hot water heater wiring

    I’ve got an electric tank water heater (40 gal) at my Lakehouse that I want to put on a WiFi smart switch. No, I’m not ready to go to tankless so let’s table that suggestion for another time.

    I want to be able to control it when I’m away in case guests are coming out or I want to get it started up before we get there.

    Asking people to find the breaker seems to be hard. Don’t ask me why.

    Has anyone done this? Have a specific brand recommendation, etc?

    #2
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      #3
      GE & Aqualoop is all I've used, but there are many.
      Your breaker should be easy to find, and is most likely a 2 pole 30amp.
      Not sure why it would be hard to find, unless you have some Jimmy rigged wiring in your house.

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        #4
        Need help for WiFi hot water heater wiring

        Originally posted by MadHatter View Post
        GE & Aqualoop is all I've used, but there are many.
        Your breaker should be easy to find, and is most likely a 2 pole 30amp.
        Not sure why it would be hard to find, unless you have some Jimmy rigged wiring in your house.

        Pretty sure he’s looking for a wifi controlled breaker or other type of disconnecting means.


        Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

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          #5
          Originally posted by Mike D View Post
          Pretty sure he’s looking for a wifi controlled breaker or other type of disconnecting means.


          Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
          What I posted will do what he wants, but yeah I'm not sure.
          He is also referring to guest finding the breaker, not someone trying to install a switch I believe.
          I will remove my no comprehension azz from this conversation
          Last edited by MadHatter; 11-26-2021, 10:25 PM.

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            #6
            Good idea. Be nice knowing you could remotely turn it off when the guests (the ones that did find the breaker) forget to turn said breaker back off.

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              #7
              Thanks for the replies. Im suggesting that I like to have guests down there who don’t have to do anything “hard”. Yes, that’s right. Trying to tell my MIL where a breaker is and how to turn it on/off is laughable but true for MANY of my wife’s friends.

              I’m looking for WiFi capability to turn off the water heater, whether it’s a breaker or a smart switch.

              For example, I’m having to drive down to the house today and turn off the water heater because the last guest turned off the water but not the water heater. A flick of the switch on an app would have been perfect.

              I already have Nest running my cameras and myQ controlling a lamp and I think an Amazon Dot thing is down there but I don’t know how to use all that voice stuff.

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                #8
                I think this is what you might be looking for. There are a lot of single pole 220v switches, but they are for overseas use, or 110v. I think this is a double pole 220v Wifi switch. It's unavailable at the moment, but there may be a substitute. https://www.amazon.com/WiOn-50054-Ou.../dp/B00ZYLTJ16

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                  #9
                  Here’s the breakers
                  And here’s the flex conduit going to the unit.

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                    #10
                    And there's this, for wifi controlled breakers https://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-...-00R/312395779

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                      #11
                      You could install a hot water timer by the heater. You couldn't turn it on and off remotely, but it would be easy to just open the door by the water heater and turn it on and off

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                        #12
                        If it was me this is what I would do: I would ask the installer to terminate the conduit that feeds the water heater into a switch box. On the switch box, I would have them install both the Wi-Fi/smart switch you want plus a parallel circuit with a manual switch. I say an additional circuit just in case the smart switch doesn’t have a manual over ride switch. If override is already a feature disregard the additional parallel circuit and switch.

                        I have not messed with smart switches so not sure if they have the manual override. It sure would be nice to have hot water if the “smart” switch went out…

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                          #13
                          Need help for WiFi hot water heater wiring

                          The simplest solution would be to buy a plug in smart plug, install a contactor in the line from the wall box and the water heater, then run a cord from the smart plug to the contactor. This does assume that you have a standard 120V receptacle in the same room as the water heater to use.

                          Your biggest challenge is going to be finding a 30 amp 2 pole smart switch. The solution above would utilize readily available components and have virtually no load on the smart plug.

                          You could program a schedule into the smart plug to be on prior to your guests arrival and turn off after they depart.


                          Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

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                            #14
                            I put a simple disconnect switch right above my water heater at the ranch. This is the same sort of switch you have to have by an outside A/C unit. Terminate the existing wires to this and run a short jumper to the water heater.
                            If a guest can locate the water heater they can do this.

                            Make a sign, tag, label, etc. to tag the valve that turns off the water notifying the user to turn off this switch.

                            T
                            Last edited by timoub007; 11-28-2021, 09:32 PM. Reason: added more detail

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