Dennis wrote: BTW, how exactly does this work? How does the sketch determine if the esp8266 is unresponsive, and how long does it need to check this and reset the module?
regards
It constantly check if connection to server is alive. If not then reconnect and if this das not help resets ESP.
I have also been using CH_PD as reset but on the ESP-03, the little pad just right of the VCC pin is actually connected to the reset pin on the ESP8266. I soldered a wire to it. But so far, I haven't found any difference in using the reset pin or CH_PD