A safety system and method to prevent water within a top portion of a tank of an electric water heater to drop below a safe temperature during a load shedding period, other than a full emergency grid failure, by a power provider whereby to prevent the propagation of harmful bacteria in a top portion the tank. A control device monitors the water temperature in the top portion of the tank by the use of a temperature sensor. If the control device detects a temperature of the water in the top portion of the tank inferior to 140 degrees F., it will by-pass the instructions of the power provider and connect power to one or more of the resistive heating elements of the tank until a predetermined temperature above 140 degrees F. is attained before switching off the resistive heating elements.

A bacteria abatement water heater abates bacterial growth and includes a fluid-isolated heat exchanger; a water heating container that heats water to a high water temperature that is greater than or equal to a kill temperature for bacteria; a hot water delivery conduit including a transitional cooling zone in thermal communication with the fluid-isolated heat exchanger and that provides bacteria-free water from the water heating container at a safe temperature.

A circulating hot water system has a hot water flow circuit defined by pipework leading out from and back to an in-line heater, and including a pump to drive circulation of the hot water. Each of multiple user points has an outflow branch conduit and a return flow branch conduit with a common wall for heat exchange, as does the main flow circuit: the outflow conduit surrounds the return conduit. Water is fed into the system from a pressurized cold water supply main through a check valve. Sensors are used to monitor water temperatures and flow conditions around the system. A programmed control processor can control heating and pumping rates in various regimes, e.g. to maintain system temperature above a predetermined threshold. An isolation valve adapted for concentric double pipes is also described.

A system and method. The system may include a beverage machine including a pump, heater, a sensor, and a processor. The pump may be configured to pump fluid including gas or liquid. The heater may be configured to heat the fluid. The sensor may be implemented downstream of the pump and the heater. The sensor may be configured to sense a pressure, a flow rate, a steam quality, or a temperature of the heated fluid and to output sensor data including information of the pressure, the flow rate, the steam quality, or the temperature of the heated fluid. The processor may be communicatively coupled to the heater, the pump, and the sensor. The processor may be configured to: receive the sensor data; control operation of the pump or the heater; and based on the sensor data, adjust an operational parameter of the pump or the heater.

A safety system and method to prevent water within a top portion of a tank of an electric water heater to drop below a safe temperature during a load shedding period, other than a full emergency grid failure, by a power provider whereby to prevent the propagation of harmful bacteria in a top portion the tank. A control device monitors the water temperature in the top portion of the tank by the use of a temperature sensor. If the control device detects a temperature of the water in the top portion of the tank inferior to 140 degrees F., it will by-pass the instructions of the power provider and connect power to one or more of the resistive heating elements of the tank until a predetermined temperature above 140 degrees F. is attained before switching off the resistive heating elements.

An electric water heater is described and wherein the bottom portion of the water holding tank is provided with various forms of electric heating elements to heat the water in the lowermost region of the tank adjacent the dome-shaped bottom wall to a temperature sufficient to prevent the proliferation of bacteria growth such as the Legionella bacteria in such lowermost region. The insulating foam support base of the water heater also provides a thermal barrier to the heating elements while biasing the heating element on the dome-shaped bottom wall in a region to insure excellent heat transfer to the cavitated zone surrounding the dome-shaped bottom wall where sedimentary deposits occur to create a culture medium for bacteria growth.

An electric water heater having a water holding tank defined by a cylindrical side wall, a top wall and a dome-shaped bottom wall. A cold water inlet is disposed for releasing water under pressure in a lower portion of the tank. Two or more resistive heating elements heat water in an upper and lower region of the tank. The lower portion of the cylindrical side wall and the outer circumferential portion of the dome-shape bottom wall form a circumferential cavitated area inside the tank in which sediments deposit forming a bed in which bacteria can proliferate. A conduit is secured about at least a substantial circumferential portion of an outer surface of the cylindrical side wall adjacent the cavitated area. A resistive heating wire is disposed in the conduit and has connection leads extending out of a free open end of the conduit to an access area to provide connection to power terminals and a control for controlling the supply of power to the resistive heating wire.

An electric water heater is described and wherein a bottom resistive heating element extends in at least a portion of the cavitated circumferential area defined inside the tank between the tank side wall and the dome-shaped bottom wall and wherein deposits accumulate to create a culture medium for bacteria growth. The bottom resistive heating element heats water in this cavitated area to a temperature sufficient to sanitize a lower region of said water holding tank and to kill bacteria such as the Legionella bacteria.

A temperature sensor securing system and method is described for securing two or more temperature sensors against an outer surface of a side wall of a tank of an electric water heater. The temperature sensors are secured spaced apart on an elongated support such as a circuit board which is held in position against the tank outer surface by support means. An expandable liquid foam causes the temperature sensors to be biased against the outer surface of the tank side wall to sense the temperature of the side wall at the location of the sensors and to generate actual temperature signals to a controller which is programmed to communicate with a subscriber and/or energy provider to control the water temperature inside the tank.

One or more cooking elements of a cooking appliance may be controlled during the preheat phase of an oven self-clean cycle to maintain a temperature within an oven cavity proximate an intermediate temperature setpoint that is below a self-clean temperature setpoint for the oven self-clean cycle until reaching a predetermined time in the oven self-clean cycle.