2.) .abort() --> class WiFiClient has no member named 'abort'
I can`t believe that the tcp/ip stuff is 'eating' memory ... but the memory never "returns". The following loop ends with 5032 bytes heap and client.connect is never called again ...
void loop()
{
WiFiClient client;
int heap = ESP.getFreeHeap();
if( heap > 5000 )
{
client.connect(host, 80);
client.stop();
Serial.printf( "\n%d", heap );
}
}