Electric Water Heater

[dougand3]

I have a standard 240v water heater, insulated well, but still quite the energy hog. Has anyone ever tried putting a timer on one? Say, it's on from 4am-8am, then back on from 4pm-8pm. Seems easy to do but I never hear of it - so, maybe not much energy savings? Maybe temp drops so much that raising it back up uses same energy. Anybody try this? (Don't have nat gas in this hood) Thanks, Doug

 

[hensonconst1]

Their is such a thing. And home depot or lowes will have them. I thought about it an decided not to use one because I have an irregular schedule, and have to have hot water at all different hours. My neighbor has one and he says it saves him about 20 a month, don't know what his timer is set on though.

 

[BrotherBart]

I was going to do it but after researching it I found that the newer well insulated water heaters don't save you much by putting them on timers. I did a test by manually popping the breaker at pre-determined times for a couple of days and found zilch for savings after comparing meter readings.

 

[oconnor]

Here is a good look at the cost savings of turning one off for a prolonged period of time - http://www.leaningpinesoftware.com/hot_water_heater_vacation.shtml

He figures you won't save even 1 dollar if it was turned off then back on after an 8 day period - can't see how cycling it during the day would help.

 

[dougand3]

Thanks, guys. Quite eye opening. Not worth the effort, fer shure.

 

[semipro]

I've been planning to put timers on my water heaters for a while. Now I'm reconsidering. I thought there was solid evidence of substantial savings but I'll be darned if I can find any on the internet.

That said, it is pretty well established that if you lower the thermostat temp on your water heater to the lowest level you can stand if will pay off. Off course it doesn't cost anything so it would be hard for it not to pay off.

 

[Gooserider]

I've been planning to put timers on my water heaters for a while. Now I'm reconsidering. I thought there was solid evidence of substantial savings but I'll be darned if I can find any on the internet.

That said, it is pretty well established that if you lower the thermostat temp on your water heater to the lowest level you can stand if will pay off. Off course it doesn't cost anything so it would be hard for it not to pay off.

Note that if you have a dishwasher you may want to not turn it down as much - unless your machine has a reasonably priced water pre-heat setup (some do) A dishwasher needs HOT water to get the best cleaning action and to properly sanitize your dishes.

Gooserider

 

[semipro]

I had the same concern with my dishwasher and verified that it heats the water up to a preset minimum temperature if the water coming in is too cold. You can tell if you dishwasher can do this by looking inside. Mine has a heating element in the bottom that looks similar to the one in an electric oven.