Rinnai Central 4+

Update missed the mark

The new Rinnai app is not an enhancement over the previous version. Even a slight step backward.
Appearance is a modest improvement. But, the Recirculate function is less reliable than previously. And since we don’t use preset schedules, the manual recirculate function is our house’s primary use of our Rinnai water heater and the app. Response to the Recirculate function varies. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t respond at all, and sometimes it seems like it doesn’t turn off when the selected time is up. Also, the remaining recirculation time no longer shows. That was a helpful feature.
The Refresh Status function (still) doesn’t do anything. And , why do I need to confirm that I want to refresh right after I just hit the button to refresh? It’s just an extra step, then the “refresh” quickly returns no new data.
Looking forward to the next version.

Developer Response ,

UPDATE: The recirculation feature has been fixed in Version 3.0.6.
PREVIOUS: Thank you for your feedback. We are aware of the recirculation bug, and we are testing the fix for this at this time. We also are making changes to the Status Page so that it will refresh automatically. The "refresh" button is a signal to the water heater to send the most current data, which takes some time to refresh, and our next version will automate this when you open the application to reduce the time to get recent information. Thank you, and we will update this comment when we release the new version to see if we addressed many of your concerns.

Terrible App...Doesn't work

The main problem is that the on demand recirculation doesn't work. No matter how long you request it only runs for a few minutes and then stops so you end up washing dishes or clothes in cold water. Thankfully the scheduled run times seem to work. I thought it was fixed in the 4.0 update as it seemed to work for a while but it has stopped working again. Not sure if the 4.0.2 update broke it again.

Does not work with Safari password manager.

Trying to sign up for this app is a nightmare. The app does not allow you to save your password in Safari. The first attempt to sign in said I already had a password even though I never used this app before so I did the “Forgot Password” routine. Great, it looked like success, but the new password I selected (made up on my own) was never saved in Safari. When I copied and pasted the new password it was not accepted. And, the app would not allow Safari to suggest a complex password. Unfortunately, I never did get to see what capability this app offered to a new Rinnai owner. I gave up. At least I have great hot water in the house. May I suggest that Rinnai abandon passwords and just use Face ID or Fingerprint ID. The password thing is obsolete since no one knows how to make passwords easy to create, easy to save and safe. My stars rating is only with regard to the signup process since I never got past that.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for reaching out, and we apologize for the issue. We can resolve your password issue if you contact us at https://www.rinnai.us/support/contact. We also appreciate your feedback on how to make the sign-in process better, and we are looking towards adding simpler solutions in the future.