Reservoir Makes Domestic Water Heating Even Smarter with Home Sync

By Jay Fox

Smarter appliances don’t just mean that your refrigerator recognizes when you’re almost out of milk or your toaster knows exactly the shade of brown you prefer for your English muffin. With Reservoir, the Boston-based startup making the world’s smartest electric water heater, you can also run your water heater more efficiently and more effectively to cut utility bills, eliminate inconveniences like long wait times for hot water, and even protect pipes during cold snaps. 

With this week’s launch of Reservoir Home Sync, the company has pushed even further into territory that no other domestic hot water system occupies. Reservoir Home Sync is a suite of software features that transforms Reservoir from an already-intelligent heat pump water heater into a fully integrated smart home device. The headline additions include Siri voice control, Home Assistant integration, Solar Sync and Time-of-Use Sync, and a clever feature called Remote Control Faucets. 

Your Faucet Is Now a Remote Control

Of all the new features, Remote Control Faucets may be the most immediately satisfying. Using ultra-sensitive flow sensing technology built into the system, a quick double-tap of your hot water faucet handle commands the system to begin recirculating water. Rather than running water down the drain until the pipes warm up, you simply double-tap, walk away, and come back in a few minutes to a shower that’s already hot.

Remote Control Faucets is an evolution of Reservoir’s existing technology, which began with the No-Wait Shower, a feature that uses predictive intelligence and machine learning to study household patterns and pre-warm the pipes before occupants even reach for the handle. Homeowners also now have a manual way to trigger on-demand recirculation from the faucet itself, with no app required. Between the predictive and the manual, Reservoir is offering a one-two punch that effectively eliminates cold-water wait times. 

Voice Control and Smart Home Integration

Home Sync also brings Reservoir into the broader smart home ecosystem. Through Siri integration, homeowners can issue voice commands, such as asking Siri to warm their shower or switch the system into a higher-demand mode when guests are over. It is the kind of convenience that turns an appliance into something more ambient, something that responds to your life rather than requiring you to manage it. 

For those with more complex home automation setups, Reservoir also integrates with Home Assistant, the open-source smart home platform, opening the door to coordination with other connected devices like solar inverters, occupancy sensors, and energy monitors to create the kind of whole-home intelligence that high-performance building advocates have been working toward for years. The system allows users to shift heating away from peak periods of demand and toward moments of abundant renewable generation. Lastly, Reservoir has announced Solar Sync and Time-of-Use Sync, enabling users to tap into their home’s solar panels to heat their water, as well as automatically optimizing energy use to save users money by preferring lower-cost, off-peak electric rates. In effect, the water heater becomes a thermal battery: storing energy when it is cheap and clean, and delivering hot water when it is needed.

Weather-Aware Freeze Protection

Reservoir's Smart Freeze Detection has been one of its standout features since launch, alerting homeowners when conditions are ripe for frozen pipes. Home Sync takes that capability a step further by connecting the system to real-time weather data. Rather than simply reacting to temperature drops as they happen or waiting for homeowners to sound the alarm, Reservoir can now anticipate incoming cold fronts and proactively prepare by pre-heating water, adjusting system behavior, and issuing earlier warnings well before temperatures plummet outside.

For owners of second homes, vacation properties, or any building in a climate where deep freezes are occasional but devastating, this kind of anticipatory intelligence has the potential to prevent tens of thousands of dollars in damages.

One Appliance, Many Roles

The water heater has long been the humble workhorse of home appliances, dutifully supplying hot water to homes without bells or whistles. 

Reservoir Home Sync represents a glow up for this modest appliance. Between voice-activated showers, faucet-triggered recirculation, weather-aware freeze protection, grid-responsive energy management, and the battery of features for which Reservoir is already known, it’s clear that the water heater can play a starring role in the smart home and Reservoir is writing the script. 

You can learn more about Reservoir and Home Sync by visiting their website.