Rheem EcoNet smart home integration, free and open source
Rheem and Ruud EcoNet water heaters and thermostats: modes, setpoints, hot water, energy
Published by LM1LC3N7
- Devices
- Version 0.1.1
- Requires Gladys >=5.2.0
- ★ 0
Your Rheem and Ruud water heaters and thermostats in Gladys, through the EcoNet cloud (the EcoNet app, United States and Canada). Requires Gladys 5.2 or later (the daily energy).
Never tested on a real account yet. This first version was written from the open-source pyeconet library (the one of Home Assistant) and tested against its example answers only. Your feedback on the forum is welcome. Unofficial, not affiliated with Rheem.
What you get
Each equipment of your EcoNet account is offered in the Discovery tab, with the features it reports.
Water heaters (heat pump, electric, gas, tankless):
| Feature | What it is |
|---|---|
| Mode | The modes of your unit, with their EcoNet names: off, energy saver, heat pump only, high demand, electric, gas, performance, vacation. In scenes, they are the Gladys water heater modes (see the table below). |
| Water setpoint | In °F, from the minimum of the unit up to the maximum water setpoint of the configuration (120 °F by default, see "Scalding and legionella"). |
| Hot water available | 0, 33, 66 or 100 %, the tank level the app shows (units that report it). |
| Heating | 1 while the unit heats. |
| Shut-off valve | An opening sensor, read only, when a valve is installed: 1 closed, 0 open. Gladys never opens nor closes it. |
| Tank / compressor health | 0 to 100 %, when the unit reports it. |
| Energy per day | kWh used each day, from the energy report of the app (electric and heat pump units that have it). Published the next day. |
| Active alerts | The number of alerts EcoNet shows for the unit (leak, fault…). Their details stay in the app. |
How the EcoNet modes become Gladys modes:
| EcoNet | Gladys mode |
|---|---|
| Off | Off |
| Energy Saver (heat pump) | Auto |
| Energy Saver (other units) | Eco |
| Heat Pump Only | Eco |
| High Demand, Performance | Boost |
| Electric, Gas | Manual |
| Vacation | Away |
A unit that has both High Demand and Performance offers the first one only; the other is still shown as Boost when the unit is in it.
Thermostats (each zone of a zoned system is a device):
| Feature | What it is |
|---|---|
| Temperature | The room temperature, in °F. |
| Humidity | In %, when reported. |
| Heating / cooling setpoint | In °F; in auto mode they keep the gap (deadband) the thermostat asks for. |
| Mode | Off, heating, cooling, auto. Emergency heat is shown as heating, fan only as off. |
| EcoNet mode | Every mode of the thermostat, fan only and emergency heat included. |
| Running | Idle, heating or cooling. |
| Fan speed | Auto, low, medium-low, medium, medium-high, high, max (as the thermostat offers them). |
| Fan | Auto or on (continuous), when the thermostat has the setting. |
| Active alerts | As for the water heaters. |
In a scene, test EcoNet mode (not Mode) to tell fan only or emergency heat apart: Mode cannot show them.
All the temperatures are in °F, the unit EcoNet reports (setpoints in whole degrees, as the app sets them). If the account or a unit says another unit, the integration says so in its status and refuses the setpoints until it is checked: set the EcoNet app to Fahrenheit.
Configuration
- In the Configuration tab, enter the e-mail address and the password of your EcoNet app, then save.
- Check the maximum water setpoint (see below).
- Use Test the connection: it logs in and lists your equipments.
- Open the Discovery tab and add the devices you want.
The Language of the feature names applies to the devices discovered afterwards.
Scalding and legionella
Hot water above 120 °F (49 °C) can scald in seconds, a child or an elderly person first. Gladys refuses any water setpoint above the maximum water setpoint of the configuration, 120 °F by default, whatever a scene or a voice command asks.
Water kept warm but below 140 °F (60 °C) lets legionella grow in the tank. If you want the tank at 140 °F for that reason, raise the maximum to 140 °F on purpose, and have a mixing valve on the hot water. The limits of the unit still apply. The new cap applies to the commands as soon as the configuration is saved. The slider of a device already created only changes after a click on Update for that device in the Discovery tab; until then, a setpoint above the cap is still refused.
How it works
- At start, the integration logs in, reads the equipment list of the account and opens the live link (MQTT over TLS, the one of the EcoNet app): the changes arrive within seconds, and the commands go through it.
- The whole account is read again every 30 minutes (every 5 minutes while the live link is down), and the energy of the last days every 6 hours.
- A command is sent once the checks pass (equipment online, recent state, limits), one at a time per equipment. The integration then waits up to 30 seconds for the equipment to report the new value; if it does not, it is logged and Gladys shows the last value the equipment reported again.
- The badge of a device says Cloud; with an orange dot when the live link is down (the states are then read every 5 minutes, and the commands are unavailable), Unreachable when EcoNet reports the unit offline or cannot be reached.
Limits
- Commands need the live link: while it is down, a command is refused with a message. They are also refused when EcoNet reports the equipment offline, or when its state is older than 45 minutes. A command arriving while the previous one of the same equipment still awaits its confirmation waits 3.5 seconds at most, then is refused: try again a few seconds later.
- A refused password is never retried by itself (to spare your account): fix it and save, or press Test the connection once it works again. A token EcoNet refuses minutes after issuing it spaces the next logins out (5, 10, 20 minutes… up to 6 hours); when only the live link refuses it, the live link waits 30 minutes (then longer) without a new login.
- When EcoNet asks to slow down (HTTP 429), nothing is sent for what it asks, 15 minutes at least.
- Not supported yet: away/vacation scheduling, the schedule resume, water usage, the Wi-Fi signal, the dehumidifier setpoint, the detail of the alerts. The gas units do not get the energy feature (EcoNet reports kBTU).
Privacy
Your e-mail address and password are sent to EcoNet only (HTTPS), the token EcoNet returns stays in memory and nothing is written to disk. The password, the token and the e-mail address never appear in the logs.
Troubleshooting
- "EcoNet refused the e-mail or the password": check them in the EcoNet app.
- "the live updates are down": the integration tries again (10 s, then longer, 5 minutes at most). The states keep coming every 5 minutes.
- "Scald risk": the setpoint is above the maximum water setpoint of the configuration.
- A feature missing: the device is built from what the unit reported when it was discovered. Delete the device and scan again after a firmware update.
Rheem, Ruud and EcoNet are trademarks of their respective owners. This integration is unofficial and not affiliated with Rheem.
Configuration settings
These are the settings Rheem EcoNet asks for in its configuration screen in Gladys.
| Setting | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your Rheem and Ruud equipment in Gladys | section | No | The water heaters (heat pump, electric, gas, tankless) and the thermostats of your EcoNet app (United States and Canada) are offered in the Discovery tab: mode, water setpoint, hot water available, heating, tank and compressor health, energy per day; room temperature and humidity, heating and cooling setpoints, mode, fan. The states arrive live from the EcoNet cloud, and the commands go through it. Temperatures are in °F, as EcoNet reports them. Never tested on a real account yet. Unofficial, not affiliated with Rheem. |
| EcoNet e-mail address | string | Yes | The e-mail address you sign in to the EcoNet app with. |
| Password | secret | Yes | The password of the EcoNet app. A refused password is never retried by itself: fix it and save, or use the test button. |
| Maximum water setpoint (°F) | number | No | Anti-scald cap: Gladys refuses any water heater setpoint above it (the limits of the unit apply too). 120 °F (49 °C) by default. Raise it to 140 °F (60 °C) if you keep the tank hot against legionella, and fit a mixing valve then. |
| Language of the feature names | select | No | The names of the features and of the options (modes, fan speeds) of the discovered devices. |
How to install Rheem EcoNet in Gladys
- In Gladys, open Integrations: Rheem EcoNet appears in the catalog, next to the native integrations, with a community badge.
- Click Install. Gladys pulls the Docker image (
ghcr.io/lm1lc3n7/gladys-rheem-econet:0.1.1), starts it in a sandbox isolated from the core, and generates the integration's interface (devices, discovery and configuration). - Open the Configuration screen of the integration, fill in the settings, and save.
- You can also install it directly from its repository URL: https://github.com/LM1LC3N7/gladys-rheem-econet.
Rheem EcoNet requires Gladys >=5.2.0. The catalog inside Gladys refreshes every hour, so a new version becomes available at most one hour after its release.
Not running Gladys yet? It is free and open source: follow the installation guide to get started.
About external integrations
Rheem EcoNet is an external integration: a community integration packaged as a Docker container and published on GitHub, that Gladys installs in one click and runs in a sandbox isolated from its core. It is published and maintained by LM1LC3N7, not by the Gladys core team.
- Browse all integrations, native and community
- Build and publish your own external integration
- Source code on GitHub — source of this documentation