It's easy to overlook the water heater—until the shower runs cold. Yet this humble appliance accounts for roughly 18% of a household's energy use and is among the leading causes of residential water damage.
Luke Winston-Almanzar sees water heaters as ripe for reinvention. “The typical water heater is devoid of intelligence, it’s using a god-awful amount of energy, and my air fryer is smarter than it,” he told TechCrunch. “I was using more energy to heat my water than it takes to drive my electric car.”
Winston-Almanzar, formerly chief business officer at 3D printing startup Formlabs, co-founded Reservoir with Gabriel Parisi-Amon and Jake Felser to build a water heater people would actually want—not just tolerate.
Funding and early traction
On Wednesday, Reservoir announced an $8 million seed round led by Asymmetric Capital Partners, with participation from Founder Collective and MCJ. The capital will support expansion of installations in the Boston area, its initial market. To date, Reservoir has deployed about 100 units, and the company aims to reach 1,000 installations by the end of 2026. “That’s when you start talking about a megawatt-scale in terms of capacity,” Winston-Almanzar noted.
Turning water heaters into grid assets
Storing megawatt-hours of energy as hot water could significantly stabilize the grid. Conventional water heaters are passive—they only respond to tank temperature changes. Reservoir’s model predicts when households need hot water, heating the tank during low-demand, low-cost periods. Its heat pump is nearly four times more efficient than electric resistance heaters and five times more efficient than natural gas models.
Reservoir has already demonstrated it can relieve strain on neighborhood-level grids. The company envisions aggregating its fleet for utility demand response programs, which reward large users for reducing grid draw during peak times. Winston-Almanzar is exploring how to channel those payments into keeping Reservoir’s products affordable.
More than just energy efficiency
While grid experts may geek out over energy storage, most homeowners replace water heaters based on whatever their plumber stocks. Reservoir knew it had to make the sustainable option simply the better option. “The sustainable product needs to just be the better product,” Winston-Almanzar said.
To achieve that, Reservoir packs features absent from typical water heaters. During the first month in a home, the unit learns usage patterns and trains a model to optimize heat pump operation—balancing efficiency, cost, and supply. The result is a device that’s smarter, greener, and more convenient for both homeowners and the grid.
via TechCrunch