We will never say never, but it hasn’t happened during the several thousand days of testing with families of all sizes in all seasons. Hoot continually adjusts to your use and looks at both recent usage patterns as well as what’s happening today to determine if a mid-day “top-up” is necessary to maintain sufficient hot water supply. While it is possible that in a very high use situation you could run short of hot water, it hasn’t happened yet!
However, if there is a “first time” please email us right away at support@hootwater.com and we’ll adjust your settings.
Hoot works with any size tank, but the larger the tank, the better. Hoot takes advantage of the thermal energy in your tank, so the more stored hot water, the more Hoot can shift heating to an off-peak period.
We recommend a 60 imperial gallon (72 US gallon) tank for 3 or more people and a minimum of a 50 imperial gallon (60 US gallon) tank for a 2-person household. While a slightly larger tank will have more standby heat loss, the impacts of this are more than compensated for by shifting more reheating to lower cost periods.
If you have a mixing valve, scalding is not a concern, so we recommend turning the tank temperature up to the highest setting to allow even more energy to be stored.
The Hoot device is UL and CSA approved and complies with building code requirements. Hoot also ensures that the tank is fully reheated for a minimum of 6 hours per day (although it is usually longer than this) to minimize the possibility of legionella or other bacteria, assuming a set point of 55°C or higher (per guidance in some areas in Canada).
Households with a smaller tank (less than 50 imperial gallons/60 US gallons) and high hot water usage will have limited opportunity for load shifting as the tank will need to be working a lot to keep up with daily use.
When a Hoot is installed on a tank there are no wiring changes, disconnections, or any other modifications whatsoever made to the internal wiring of the tank, so from Hootwater’s perspective warranty should not be impacted. However, we cannot make any guarantee that a manufacturer will not take a different position.
What’s important for consumers to know when it comes to warranties is that by far the largest cost in servicing a hot water tank is labour and labour costs for warranty repairs are not covered. For example, if you replace a lower element you would need to pay a plumber to diagnose the issue, drain the tank, replace the element, refill the tank and test its operation. While the cost of the part may amount to about $20, the labour will be a few hundred.
The size of your tank, how much hot water you use and when you use it, and your time-of-use rate plan all factor into cost savings. Ultimately, savings will be determined by the amount of hot water heating that Hoot can shift to lower rate periods.
Here’s a couple of examples from the Province of Ontario:
Once again, it depends on several factors - the size of your tank, how much hot water you use and when you use it, your time-of-use rate plan, and whether you rent or own your tank. Plus, the relative prices for gas and electricity.
If you only consider the cost of the tank, standard electric tanks with a Hoot are considerably less expensive than a power vented natural gas tank. If you only consider the energy source, natural gas is generally cheaper than electricity unless you are on the ultra-low overnight rate in Ontario. Overall, when you consider the total cost of the equipment plus operating costs, Hoot is often able to make the cost of electric water heating competitive with gas (assuming you have rented the tank).
In some cases, Utilities are paying incentives of about $60 per year to homeowners for the right to occasionally schedule their electric water heating, subject to ensuring that the homeowner maintains sufficient supply of hot water. Shifting electric water heating with a Hoot is one of the lowest cost per megawatt solutions for Utilities to reduce peak grid load. As financial incentives are available, Hootwater will pass the benefits on to our customers.
Certain regions like Ontario and British Columbia rely primarily on low-carbon technologies such as hydro and nuclear power during certain times of the day, and they meet peak demands with natural gas generation. Hoot helps save carbon emissions by optimizing the use of low-carbon electricity sources in your area, when it’s available, and when it’s not in conflict with lower electricity rates. Also, In the near future Hoot will offer a “low carbon mode” where the tank prioritizes the use of lower carbon power generation periods over energy rates.
In the medium term, when you consider that an electric water heater typically lasts 12 – 15 years, pairing a new electric water tank with a HOOT device today will help reduce water heating related carbon emissions as the electrical grid decarbonizes throughout the 2030’s.
We estimate that adding a Hoot to your electric tank will cut emissions by a half to two-thirds, or approximately 7 to 10 tonnes of CO2 emissions per household over the tank's lifespan
While heat pump water heaters boast impressive technology, their cost is typically 3 to 4 times higher than that of a standard electric tank with a Hoot installed. Moreover, the environmental and operating cost benefits are often exaggerated, especially in colder climates.
For homes heated with gas, the heat pump water heater simply utilizes the gas-heated air to provide the heat for the water, as noted in a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) study. The study found that “when energy savings for water heating are considered alongside the increase in heating load, the impact of the heat pump water heater on the whole-house energy balance is deemed insignificant” (see article here).
In summer there is an environmental benefit from heat pump water heaters as they reduce air conditioning needs, but often this extra cold air is in the basement where homes are already uncomfortably cold.
Tankless water heaters are efficient, but they’re expensive to purchase and install and they have a limited flow rate. If the tankless unit is electric, it’s costly to operate.
The great thing about Hoot is that it can be used with your existing electric tank, old or new, so you can enjoy the benefits without buying a new tank.
If you do need to buy a new tank, adding Hoot to a standard electric tank will quite likely be the lower cost and more customizable option while giving you all the benefits of a smart tank. As an example, Hootwater optimizes the shift to lower cost periods and updating seasonal time-of-use rate changes without your intervention (where applicable). Hoot will also ensure that you benefit from any utility financial incentives should they become available.
There’s no comparison. A timer is manually set and not in tune with your actual hot water consumption … in short, it’s dumb. Hoot, on the other hand, is smart and is continually adjusting to your usage. Hoot cycles your tank “on” to maintain sufficient hot water supply when and if needed, while shifting as much hot water heating as possible to lower cost periods.
We recommend that Hoot be installed by a licensed electrician or trained HVAC hot water tank service technician. Installation time is approximately 30 to 40 minutes.
Very. Our set-up instructions are easy to follow and the HOOT device can very quickly be brought online. Make sure you have your WIFI password handy.
Hoot has a total of five operating modes:
Not at this point. Hoot is not a device that you’ll interact with on a regular basis. In fact, you may never do anything beyond the initial set up unless you want to (eg you’re a Hoot keener). For this reason, integration is really not necessary.
Yes, but only for limited hours in a day. Hoot has an “Away Mode” that turns the tank completely off all day and then reheats it only during overnight periods (11 pm to 6 am). We have not added functionality to completely turn the tank off. To do this you will need to use the breaker switch on your electrical panel.
The reasons for this are safety related. If a tank is not in use and the water inside is stagnant, legionella or other bacteria can begin to replicate if the temperature falls below 50°C (legionella takes approximately 20 hours to replicate once).
The best way to avoid this is for daily use of the tank (i.e. water is passing through it), and reheating to a set point of 55°C to 60°C (or higher) for a minimum number of hours a day, assuming you have a mixing valve installed (required by the Canadian Building Code). The building code is silent about how long a tank should be at the set point but at least one province has made a rule of a minimum of 5 hours per day at a 55° set point.
If you do not have a mixing valve installed - which is the case in the majority of homes - you need to decide on your tanks’ temperature set point. A 60°C set point without a mixing valve is not recommended due to scalding concerns, and a temperature below 50°C raises health concerns. We note that the required set point for water heaters in the United States is only 50°C, with some Utilities recommending 55°C.
Yes. The Hoot High Demand mode was designed for abnormally high use times (e.g. when you have guests). You simply choose this setting and let the Hoot know when it needs to return to its normal operation.
If one of the elements or thermostats break inside the tank, Hoot will alert you by email and app notification if the tank is not reheating. However, before Hoot can make the notification you may have already experienced hot water loss.
You will get an email and be notified through the app. When not connected to WIFI the Hoot device will stop scheduling water heating until it is reconnected, and the tank will operate as if the Hoot was not installed.
No. Your tank has a built-in cut-off switch that prevents the tank from overheating. Hoot does not change or connect to any of the internal wiring in the tank so internal safety systems will operate as originally designed.
Hoot does track how much each element is used which can be used for anticipating preventative maintenance such as the changing of the tank’s anode. Automated maintenance alerts are not a current feature of Hoot.
If your turn off the power by pushing the button on the top left of the Hoot, the indicator light on the Hoot will turn off and the Hoot just let’s your tank run normally.
No. Once power is restored Hoot will restart and reconnect to WIFI automatically.
Yes. An estimate based on current usage patterns will be shown.
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Hoot will be available in Canada in July 2024 and the US in the fall of 2024. We're pleased to offer Hoot at CAD$224.99 + taxes and shipping which is $75.00 off the regular CAD$299.99 price. Please leave us your information and we'll let you know as soon as we're ready to ship!
