Yesterday I went to a huge international show called Batimat - IdeoBain - InterClimat+Elec close to Paris to see Twido, an innovative product from 2&Go, a French company I have been following for 6 months now
Olivier Cocheteux, Founder & CEO
Their idea is simple: Lower your the Energy used for producing hot water at home
Why: Because regular Electric Water Heaters / Boilers are just not that efficient
These water heaters have been around for several decades and have not (or slightly) been improved ever since: They always heat up the full volume of water 200-300 liters of water, past 60°C to kill bacteria, whatever volume of hot water is actually used; The hot water that is not used slowly lowers in temperature, which is a waste of energy. The average static heat loss is 1.5 to 3 kWh every day, depending on the volume of the tank, even more if it is not a tempered room - witch is my case -
A New Idea : Heat up only the volume of water that will be used, not the rest !
How ? : In smaller tanks connected in series and heated or not depending on your needs ...
Like a Nest Thermostat in a way, it learns your habits from your Real Hot Water Consumption, and heats up the right amount of water throughout the week
WiFi Connected, you are in Control : The online Portal myTwido.com lets you follow the Energy dedicated to hot water, see the Temperature of each individual tank in real time, program manually the amount of water for the desired day/hour, and you can decide to heat up more water if some family or friends show up in the last minute to spend the night let's say (Boost Mode)
Design: Their slim design allows space saving, and now your water heater can even be decorative :)
Sturdy & Long lasting Design:
- Heavy duty frame/chassis
- Scalable: Tanks come in different sizes and you can get a 3 to 4-tank system, with 120 to 320 liters
- Stainless Steel Tanks : No Galvanic Corrosion (there is only water in a tank), No Limestone Deposit because heating is performed on the outside of the tank, no inside like it is done with regular water heaters' immersed heating elements, they come with a15 years warranty (tanks should last 30-40 years !, instead of 5 years on average)
But wait, there's more :)
Twido in its latest version becomes Solar !
The external heating pads of each tank can be powered from Solar Panels at low voltage under 50V - 1 panel or several wired in parallel - through regular MC4 connectors, and of course 230V AC like on the regular version (2 resistive wires in the same heating pad)
The more Solar you get through your panels, the more free hot water you get ...
After several years of using the Wattson Energy Monitor and the real time & daily graphs on the Energy Hive portal, I can see that my water heater is the most energy consuming appliance at home, by far
Water heater Power used is 1500W during 4 or 5 hours at night
So a switch to their innovative technology would improve even more the overall modifications I made at home for the last 10 years:
- LED lights
- Heat Pump
- Electric Car & Scooter
- Solar Panels
- Energy Storage System
It's just the next step for me
Also I have to relocate my regular water heater downstairs (in 2008 it has been put in the building attic by mistake by my contractor too early because we were about to buy this extra space, and ended up not doing so and buying the apartment underneath instead), and the only spot I found in the upstairs kids bathroom is where the towel dryer is ... There is absolutely no room for a huge round water heater, and Twido's depth is only 25cm with a width of 86cm, just Perfect !
See the Full Photo Album of the Show (click the link)
Their website: http://www.twido.fr
Online Portal: http://mytwido.com
Video shot by French TV France2 team the day before:
