Rheem EcoNet 4+

Suggestion for upgrade

I really like the upgraded app. I agree the bouncy splash screen is not essential. My suggestion is this: I find that the server sometimes loses communication briefly with the app and my water heater. The only way I learn that there has been an “error” is to open the app and see the little warning icon in the corner. Despite having the app on my Home Screen, I have no visual way of knowing that something needs attention. My suggestion would be that maybe you could add a little red “pip” on the app icon when something needs to be reviewed (similar to when you gets text message alert). If the app icon would alert me, I could refresh the communication link or whatever needs attention. Otherwise, it is just luck if I see the issue or if I happen to walk by the water heater and see the communication module flashing. Please consider some type of visual or notification alert when the app has something to tell us. Thanks for listening.

Developer Response ,

Thank you! We're happy to hear that you find the app useful, and we appreciate your taking the time to leave us feedback on how we may improve it.

Heater Stuck in Vacation Mode

Prior to about a week ago, this was a very useful app for monitoring and adjusting my electric water heater while away from home. It properly tracked my location and ran the schedule. There were no issues with keeping a decent supply of hot water. In the last week, I have noticed a very specific issue that kept my water heater from heating water. Problem: The water heater is consistently set to vacation mode by the application. In the application it says I am away from the house even when I am in front of the Rheem unit. I will manually set the the unit to any available mode only for the unit to eventually send a command saying I am away and that the heater should transition to Vacation mode. Using the EcoNet app to turn on the unit using a mode change has the same effect. After about 5 minutes, the app defines my location as away and the heater goes into vacation/away mode. I believe that either your latest update has a bug regarding home/location tracking or iOS 17.4 and your app do not pass precise location correctly. To prevent this issue, I signed out of the app to stop all interaction between my phone and the Rheem unit. I have not seen issues as of yet but I also no longer have the “smart” features touted by Rheem and EcoNet.

Developer Response ,

I'm sorry you are experiencing issues with the app. Your review will be shared with our development team. If we can ever be of any assistance, please call our dedicated EcoNet Support Team at 800-255-2388 and one of our agents will be happy to help you.

App worked until update. Water heater is also junk

I moved into a 3 year old home with an Rheem condenser/electric water heater. I connected the app and after 2 weeks began having issues with the water heater. First it was overheating errors then a frozen condenser. Fine, whatever I’ll use electric. EXCEPT the water heater doesn’t follow schedule and always switches back to condenser or the eco mode. Went out to my garage tonight and saw it was running on the condenser again, went to change it through the app and now I have no control over the water heater. Can’t change the modes, temperature shows it’s set at 0°. Luckily I was able to manually switch it to electric. I don’t know what to do with this thing anymore. I have a water heater that automatically switches to a mode that doesn’t work and an app that can’t control it. My final grievance with this app and hardware is that to even control it through the app requires the water heater to phone home to whatever servers are controlling it. I can’t just control it on my local network so now I have a smart device that has to be facing the internet rather than being able to block the internet/server connection on my end and connect to it through my VPN like all the rest of my devices.