Home and Away almost never work for me
After a couple of years of trying, updating, moving my wi-fi access point, and being on the phone with the nice people at Rheem: I cannot get the app to reliably switch into Away mode. I even installed a new wi-fi module on the water heater and . . . nope.
It’s ironic, In believe the one most important function this product [water heater + wi-fi module] should have is the ability to control a remote site with respect to Home and Away, and it just doesn’t work.
I recommend the Rheem people take a hard look at this and work to make the combination of the hardware and software *rock*solid*, and today — December 2022 — it is not, at least not for me.
It’s ironic, In believe the one most important function this product [water heater + wi-fi module] should have is the ability to control a remote site with respect to Home and Away, and it just doesn’t work.
I recommend the Rheem people take a hard look at this and work to make the combination of the hardware and software *rock*solid*, and today — December 2022 — it is not, at least not for me.
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Non-functional
What’s the point in spending so darn much on this heater and downloading the app if all the fancy communication the app is supposed to do doesn’t work? We basically have to control our heater at the source on the heater display. The app is entirely useless. Went away for a week and put the heater in “I’m away” mode thinking we were saving on energy. Logged in on our way home only to find it had defaulted back to heating water whenever it wanted to, not even on the schedule we’d programmed. I’m looking at the schedule right now: it says water should be 120 degrees and on energy saver mode. But the main screen says it’s heating to 140 degrees in high demand mode! What a waste of money and energy. We’re so so so disappointed in Rheem.
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Embarrassingly Unreliable
After 6 months of owning a Rheem heat pump water heater, I have had adequate time to assess the EcoNet app that is used to control the water heater schedule and mode from my phone. Not only has the app been unreliable from the start, but its performance issues have worsened in recent months (as of Sept or Oct 2022).
The app disconnects from my home network frequently. Previously is would disconnect every two weeks or so, and I would have to reconnect the heater— a frequent annoyance, but I tolerated it, thinking that version upgrades would improve the situation. Now, however, the app disconnects every single day, rendering the schedule feature completely useless.
There are no known issues with my home wireless mesh network, and all other applications have been able to connect and operate to it without any problems. My conclusion is that this very buggy app has only become more reliable over time. The water heater itself is excellent and has saved a lot of energy, but unless Rheem gets its act together and makes a significant app improvement from the ground up, they will lose any competitive advantage they currently have as the app significantly limits the functionality of the heater.
The app disconnects from my home network frequently. Previously is would disconnect every two weeks or so, and I would have to reconnect the heater— a frequent annoyance, but I tolerated it, thinking that version upgrades would improve the situation. Now, however, the app disconnects every single day, rendering the schedule feature completely useless.
There are no known issues with my home wireless mesh network, and all other applications have been able to connect and operate to it without any problems. My conclusion is that this very buggy app has only become more reliable over time. The water heater itself is excellent and has saved a lot of energy, but unless Rheem gets its act together and makes a significant app improvement from the ground up, they will lose any competitive advantage they currently have as the app significantly limits the functionality of the heater.
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Nice water heater. Setup instructions need work.
After trying over a dozen times to connect the hybrid heater to the WiFi/EcoNet app over several days I finally decided to call the help line listed in the app. Up until I called, the phone connected to the heater WiFi signal but went no further. It said “Module Connection Error. Please ensure your module is ready to connect.” All of my other connected devices went through a similar setup process and worked perfectly so I knew it wasn’t my router. The person who answered the phone was very nice and one of the first things he asked was whether or not I was using a VPN. I was. He told me to disconnect it and try the setup again. It worked perfectly. If you are using Norton VPN you can’t just toggle the “off” button otherwise it turns itself back on. You have to turn off the “connect on demand” button. This will prevent it turning back on during the setup process. Once the setup is complete you can turn your VPN back on. I’ll give 4 stars because the app is pretty good, but I’ll deduct 1 star because the setup instructions should mention the problem with VPN’s. Instead I had to call to get that information.
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Need the ability to customize
You’re only allowed 4 time periods to customize your thermostat.
Simply adding the ability to add another time period would make this app so much better. Do some customer interviews and understand how we want to use it not how you think we should use it.
Additionally why do I need to see the sign onscreen every time I open the app. I get it, you need a sec for the app to connect to the device. It’s super annoying though. (Again, customer interviews) Why not instead allow someone to gain access to a control panel fist and then make the connection?
Slider controls are not great for ux. The hit state you allow is so tiny. Why not use the heat display and just swipe up or down. You for sure don’t need a slide that’s so massive either. Do people really need the ability to jump 10-15 degrees in most cases? Ot is it 1-4.
Again, customer research.
A few pointers that will lead to more success. As it is right now I would not recommend the wifi thermostat because the app that exists today is lack luster and missing features. What’s good with a smart WiFi thermostat if you can’t actually make it do what you want it to. So this is an app review as much as it is a WiFi thermostat review. They are connected.
Simply adding the ability to add another time period would make this app so much better. Do some customer interviews and understand how we want to use it not how you think we should use it.
Additionally why do I need to see the sign onscreen every time I open the app. I get it, you need a sec for the app to connect to the device. It’s super annoying though. (Again, customer interviews) Why not instead allow someone to gain access to a control panel fist and then make the connection?
Slider controls are not great for ux. The hit state you allow is so tiny. Why not use the heat display and just swipe up or down. You for sure don’t need a slide that’s so massive either. Do people really need the ability to jump 10-15 degrees in most cases? Ot is it 1-4.
Again, customer research.
A few pointers that will lead to more success. As it is right now I would not recommend the wifi thermostat because the app that exists today is lack luster and missing features. What’s good with a smart WiFi thermostat if you can’t actually make it do what you want it to. So this is an app review as much as it is a WiFi thermostat review. They are connected.
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Will cause me to change brands
I write apps for a living and do home remodels on occasion. I didn’t choose this water heater, my wife did. Had I seen a control app with 1.5 stars I would have stopped the purchase.
I just spent the time to set up a schedule. After setting up two day time items I navigated to check something in the app and both were gone. Then I made it through the settings for four times a day and saved it after every change. Then I turned on the schedule and hit Save again. Woke up this morning to the heater using the default values (NOT mine) but with the schedule on. This is failing in the worst way: not keeping my schedule but keeping the schedule (the default) on!
Thankfully the setup to connect initially worked well for me. Manually changing the setting of the water heater works. However the SCHEDULE is the real power and it’s very broken.
I won’t spend time on the UI design problems, please just make it work first. Please hire professional NATIVE MOBILE developers.
I just spent the time to set up a schedule. After setting up two day time items I navigated to check something in the app and both were gone. Then I made it through the settings for four times a day and saved it after every change. Then I turned on the schedule and hit Save again. Woke up this morning to the heater using the default values (NOT mine) but with the schedule on. This is failing in the worst way: not keeping my schedule but keeping the schedule (the default) on!
Thankfully the setup to connect initially worked well for me. Manually changing the setting of the water heater works. However the SCHEDULE is the real power and it’s very broken.
I won’t spend time on the UI design problems, please just make it work first. Please hire professional NATIVE MOBILE developers.
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Great with 50 Gal Water Heater
Works well although a little confusing at first. It is not as user-friendly as it could be but it does the job. Some of the errors I have encountered include:
1) No user manual anywhere. This should be an quick fix. I am available;-)
2) On the First/Home page It shows a weather icon for a western state and I live in an eastern state. No way to change it.
3) The Geo-fencing only allows for 10 miles. Need more miles. And still not clear on how it works or when it kicks in as there are no indicators on the First/Home screen.
4) No indication if it is following a vacation schedule, geolocation, etc. The First/Home page should clearly tell you what mode you are in. It basically says Home or Away with no details.
4) The “I’m Home/I’m Away” thing confused me especially because most of us name our Location as “Home”. Instead of the single button thing, have something clearer that includes a very clear status: I am at Home (checkbox), I am not at Home (checkbox) and you can only check one. AND tell us what will happen i.e. Home equals normal settings and Not Home equals 60 degrees, etc. It is just screen space.
5) The Wifi setup instructions could be clearer. First and most importantly, State that this thing creates its own Wifi and you have to connect to it in order to then configure the actual house wifi connection. Those of us with a lot of IOT get it, otherwise, not so much.
1) No user manual anywhere. This should be an quick fix. I am available;-)
2) On the First/Home page It shows a weather icon for a western state and I live in an eastern state. No way to change it.
3) The Geo-fencing only allows for 10 miles. Need more miles. And still not clear on how it works or when it kicks in as there are no indicators on the First/Home screen.
4) No indication if it is following a vacation schedule, geolocation, etc. The First/Home page should clearly tell you what mode you are in. It basically says Home or Away with no details.
4) The “I’m Home/I’m Away” thing confused me especially because most of us name our Location as “Home”. Instead of the single button thing, have something clearer that includes a very clear status: I am at Home (checkbox), I am not at Home (checkbox) and you can only check one. AND tell us what will happen i.e. Home equals normal settings and Not Home equals 60 degrees, etc. It is just screen space.
5) The Wifi setup instructions could be clearer. First and most importantly, State that this thing creates its own Wifi and you have to connect to it in order to then configure the actual house wifi connection. Those of us with a lot of IOT get it, otherwise, not so much.
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Works fine for my HPWH except
scheduling works fine. My only gripe is the lack of vacation mode. I had to just turn off the water heater (remotely) while on a week long vacation then remember to turn it back on 8 hours before we were returning home. That worked but the lack of vacation mode or any possibility of online support or instructions of any kind is ridiculous. It does have a non-working vacation mode. It can be selected but the options needed to define “Away” are not even present and all attempts to schedule a vacation period end in an error message. Before and after update. The daily scheduling for peak and off-peak works well though, thankfully. And we love our heat pump water heater.
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Disconnected
If you are wanting a thermostat for the purpose of being able to control it from the app, I cannot recommend this product at all. It is more often than not when I try to update a temperature setting from a phone or iPad, it will not allow me to update the temperature setting. However, if I update it directly on the thermostat it is reflected in the app. I use this functionality often due to todays energy costs but when it doesn’t work, it it extremely frustrating. As mentioned in previous posts, this is the brains of the appliance, in this case a furnace. If you are going to advertise a product and highlight a feature you know people want and are making the choice to purchase a product based on that feature, please make sure it works. I get that not all things are perfect in the world of IOT, but this lack of reliability is out of control and needs to be seriously evaluated and addressed.
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Oh well
I’ve tried both the generic EcoNet app and the Rheem branded one, and both are equally useless. Neither will connect to my water heater even though they can see the WiFi network it broadcasts while it’s in setup mode. Since I can’t even get past this step I can’t tell if it would be able to connect to my WiFi, or how/if the app works. I guess since I didn’t even know the heater had WiFi when I bought it, I’m not really missing anything, but I guess I’ll never know. I’ll leave this installed in case they ever update it to fix these issues, but I’m not holding my breath based on the poor reviews.
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Buggy to the point of not functioning
I’m a contractor and install heat pump water heaters. This app is really terrible, and one of the main sources of complaints about $4,000+ installations. Why on earth doesn’t Rheem invest more in this, since it’s the “brains” of machines that cost over $2500? Not only is setting up a new water heater incredibly unintuitive, but when machines lose their internet connection (even for a few seconds) they can freak out and stop following their schedule, often resulting in machines being off when you want them on! The newest bug adds insult to injury: after updating the app last week, it now quits immediately after I try opening it on my iPhone 6plus. Sure, my phone is old, but few developers roll out new versions that actually cause crashes like that. Please at least check to see if your update is going to result in people no longer having access to their water heater settings. Is there any reason Rheem doesn’t just make a regular webportal as a backup?
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Needs some improvements
Date not in sync with device, called support twice about not been able to connect with the first installed. She told me to turn off my five gig on my dual band router because it’s trying to connect to. that one is not compatible with five, then I tried everything and when I finally got to the firewall I turned it down to low and it connected. Was able to turn it back up to medium security but not high otherwise connection gets lost. Call back the next day to tell Support about this firewall issue. They thanked me , she said my God I haven’t been able to get anyone connected today and I told her tell customer to turn the firewall down. I know a good app designer that could probably tune this app up! Now I’ve lost all connect-ability , useless , deleted app…by
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Works for me
The apps works with my HVAC system. I thought there was an issue with the app, I discovered that the computer board on the HVAC was somehow malfunctioning. I disconnected the power to the system, then I took out the fuse to check it out; it was not burnt out. After I turned off the power, I waited a few minutes to allow it to reset and put it back in. After that the app worked just fine to change the temperature and do other functions. I had the system since June 2018.
An option I would really like to see is the ability to run the fan for a certain number of minutes in 15 minutes increments or possibly hours, then it would turn off; right now the fan just stays on and it wastes energy and becomes costly.
An option I would really like to see is the ability to run the fan for a certain number of minutes in 15 minutes increments or possibly hours, then it would turn off; right now the fan just stays on and it wastes energy and becomes costly.
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Casts a pallor over an otherwise solid appliance
This app would have been an embarrassment in 2017. In 2022, it is evidence of either profound hubris, or simply having given up. There is nothing about this that is well designed, that operates as one would expect, or in many cases, works at all.
Ruud/Rheem appears to make very good - even excellent - HVAC equipment. The higher end of the line requires the use of the EcoNet thermostat, rather than a Nest, for example, and this is the app they provide?
Worse, there is no developer portal, published API or other documentation that would enable a software engineer, frustrated enough by this dumpster fire to create a functional replacement to do so.
I encourage the personnel or subcontractors involved in this to perform some competitive research, usability studies - heck, even functional testing, because this thing does NOT work nor is it consistent with modern standards.
When your customer’s first thought is ‘I wish I had purchased a less capable system so I could continue to use my Nest thermostat’, you have failed.
Ruud/Rheem appears to make very good - even excellent - HVAC equipment. The higher end of the line requires the use of the EcoNet thermostat, rather than a Nest, for example, and this is the app they provide?
Worse, there is no developer portal, published API or other documentation that would enable a software engineer, frustrated enough by this dumpster fire to create a functional replacement to do so.
I encourage the personnel or subcontractors involved in this to perform some competitive research, usability studies - heck, even functional testing, because this thing does NOT work nor is it consistent with modern standards.
When your customer’s first thought is ‘I wish I had purchased a less capable system so I could continue to use my Nest thermostat’, you have failed.
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Cannot create account
I honestly need support, but cannot find a way to get any help, so a review is the only spot. I cannot create an account with the app so that I can use it. I get an error that says “cannot access resource” every time I try to create it in the app.
I tried creating an account through safari, and could not find a place to do that. I tried (multiple times) to contact support through the website and it wouldn’t submit my ticket. I even tried the “get support” link here in the App Store and the page goes to a 404.
So, the app is totally useless to me because I cannot create an account, no matter what I try and I cannot get help to fix it. Which honestly is a very silly reason.
I tried creating an account through safari, and could not find a place to do that. I tried (multiple times) to contact support through the website and it wouldn’t submit my ticket. I even tried the “get support” link here in the App Store and the page goes to a 404.
So, the app is totally useless to me because I cannot create an account, no matter what I try and I cannot get help to fix it. Which honestly is a very silly reason.
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Poorly made app and zero acknowledgement from business
Seems like a lot of old feedback/complaints still have never been addressed with this app which is a bad sign for a company. I have the heating/AC unit and I have to refresh the app (where you swipe up on your iPhone to clear open apps) every single time I use it. Otherwise it does not show the most updated temperatures. We use it for 3 zones and right now 2 zones think it’s the wrong day of the week (following Fridays schedule but today is Saturday) and 1 zone is correctly following the schedule for today. Very buggy app all around. Would NEVER buy this product if it were my choice because the app is so so bad.
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Terrible app for a great heater
The heater itself is great, but the app and connectivity are terrible.
1. It shows as “EcoNet disconnected” constantly. Sometimes it is connected fine and other times it is really disconnected. This matters because if the heater is actually disconnected it won’t report energy usage properly. Thankfully it does save the energy usage data, but unfortunately it doesn’t save the time. As a result of it has been disconnected for a week, when you reconnect it you get zero usage shown for 6 days and then a week’s worth of usage in the instant it reconnected.
2. No data export available. Seriously?
3. No indication of which heat source is being used, either in real time or logs.
4. Scheduling and geofencing seem to work completely arbitrarily. Planned vacation settings have yet to work properly for me. Geofenced standby maybe 1 day in 10. Do schedules override geofencing or the other way around? Who knows!
1. It shows as “EcoNet disconnected” constantly. Sometimes it is connected fine and other times it is really disconnected. This matters because if the heater is actually disconnected it won’t report energy usage properly. Thankfully it does save the energy usage data, but unfortunately it doesn’t save the time. As a result of it has been disconnected for a week, when you reconnect it you get zero usage shown for 6 days and then a week’s worth of usage in the instant it reconnected.
2. No data export available. Seriously?
3. No indication of which heat source is being used, either in real time or logs.
4. Scheduling and geofencing seem to work completely arbitrarily. Planned vacation settings have yet to work properly for me. Geofenced standby maybe 1 day in 10. Do schedules override geofencing or the other way around? Who knows!
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Excellent useful reliable app!
I have been using the app for my Rheem Hybrid water heater (PROPH80T2RH375X39) since Feb “21. It was easy to set up and has worked nearly flawlessly on both my ipad and iphone. I have it on the 2.4 G band. My router is configured for separate 2.4/5 G bands. I initially had numerous problems when I first configured with the “smart connect” option that switches between the 2.4/5 bands automatically. When I reset my router to two seperate bands and connected it to the 2.4, all the problems disappeared! REAL EASY to adjust temperature based on need. Great scheduling tool. Has reduced my electric consumption on my 80 gal tank to less than I used on my old 50 non-adjustable by app tank. The wifi connection also allows me to turn it off remotely from my vacation location.
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App is too basic
There should be more functionality in the app: timer and customizable scheduling should be in a minimum operating product. Ability to set 7 day schedule like any good thermostat does with multiple on off times per day. The cost of the Wi-Fi module is double what it should be if it had more functionality. App updates are few and far between. I guess there is not a real AppDev team - if you are the AppDev team sorry but you need more priority and more resources- This should be a really reasonable story to get out in a few sprints!!! Let’s get it done!
Cannot change out of performance mode to eco
Cannot change out of performance mode to eco
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Poor performance
Very disappointed. I am an enthusiast for electrification of my home and was excited by the heat pump water heater that I bought. However, I spend at least 5 minutes every day troubleshooting problems with this app. As other reviews note, the app is incapable of staying connected to the appliance. In addition, the availability of commands that are programmed into my appliance (e.g., leak sensor override) are sporadic. This is an urgent problem for Rheem to fix so that customers like me are satisfied with the Rheem experience and help this necessary technology to take off by word of mouth. I usually do not leave reviews for apps, but my disappointment here is severe.
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