[ShieldSean]

Youtuber Technology Connections has a series of video’s about the difference in electrical efficiency between resistive heating  at 100% and heat pumps which can be in the 500% range. We recently moved to a more rural location that has only electric, where as previously we’ve had natural gas for the water heater and furnace. While our heat and AC are on the same reversible heat pump, unfortunately the previous owners only got a resistive unit for the water heater. Having just gotten my Vue installed yesterday I spotted our water heater using 5kw for a brief while after our first shower. Obviously I don’t have enough data to make a blanket statement about it’s usage over time in comparison to other uses, it didn’t take long for it to jump to the #3 circuit in that one use. The jury is still out if the entertainment center or my gaming workstation will use more over time. You can bet however that we’ll definitely be investing in a heat pump water heater when this one dies.

[ShieldSean]

First off, I’d like to suggest your CEO there spells his name wrong ;-).

I’m Sean from outside Joshua Tree, CA where I just recently moved from Silicon Valley. We got lucky and moved 5 short months before the pandemic, so it’s been great having some space of our own during the lockdown. I’m a former semi-retired web application developer and while I’m looking forward to seeing Emporia’s web app when it arrives, I’ll be highly critical, so don’t let your guys mess it up! I got the Vue so I could evaluate our needs for a potential future solar install, as well as make sure all our utilities are operating properly. A nice feature coming up will be our window replacements, it’ll be neat to see if there’s a power difference between our previous owners drafty mess of windows and our soon to be installed set. I did the install myself, and having been shocked by 120v outlets, I’ve never been more paranoid and adrenalined than when installing the Vue last night. I should’ve done it in a morning because it took me like 2 hours to calm down and get to sleep. I was in enough of a hurry to get the panel closed I skipped taking a picture for reference, and didn’t bother to write down what ports are connected to which circuit. I think I’ll figure them out by plugging in a heat gun and seeing where stuff spikes! Also, with 24 circuits I had to pick and choose, but I got 4 smart outlets to figure out which circuits I may not bother monitoring inside the panel.

As far as smart devices I have, I’m running one of the self installed security systems, a 4 device Chamberlain setup, 3 TP-Link smart outlets, a permanent wifi-connected LED strip, an Ecowitt 3 piece weather station, and now the Vue, and all of them are on their different apps. As @Zordrack mentioned the smart home is still the wild west, but I hope to see systems coming together, and hopefully without replacing everything in the process!

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