electric water heater on timer? Bad idea?

[cc-rider]

Where is the 'break even' point? If I only use hot water for a short time in the evening (showers, dishes, laundry), would it make sense to have the water heater on a timer and come on at, say, 5:00 and go off at 10:00? It'd still be warm enough for a quick hand-washing in the morning before work, I'd think.

Or would it use more energy having to heat it all back up every night than it would to just keep it going all day?

I'm thinking a 40 gallon electric water heater, well insulated.

Other option was a tankless version, but with well water, I'm not too sure I want to do that. Plus the installation cost!

CC

[palani]

In Europe (where electricity is quite a bit more expensive) you will frequently find timers on the water heaters. If you want hot water in the morning they set the timer to come on several hours before the time.

Rather than pass all the heater current through the timer I would suggest wiring the timer contact in series with the water heater thermostat. This would save the expense of a high current 220vac rated relay.

[hunter63]

My 30 gal electric water heater heats a load in about 15 min.
We leave it off most of the time and only turn it on when needed.
Sorta of a KISS system.

I suppose that more insulation would help, but if only used one a day, I gotta believe that the cost is lower although I haven't got around to hooking a timer or a current meter to it.
Don't know if the t-stat for the heater is less amps than the direct wiring as most are line voltage t-stats so the amps are the same, so you would need a relay/contactor that would handle the amps/volts.

I agree that a pilot duty relay/contactor could be used so as to lower the cost of the timer, (higher the rating/ the higher the cost), but would need a power source/ possible transformer.

[Junkmanme]

I would prefer the "tankless" type heater. BUT, I know that the up-front cost is a lot more. (I don't know what the "pay-back" time would be...)

They make a "fibreglas jacket" (cover) for water-heaters that fits around the unit to add insulation. That might be a reasonable and cost-saving expense.

Very important to get your wiring right!

Good Luck!
Bruce

[cc-rider]

Oh my, I hadn't thought about the wiring. I guess I just assumed that a water heater was plugged into a wall outlet just like any other electric appliance (well, like an electric stove, or dryer, or something), and that I'd just plug in a timer first, and then plug the water heater into that.

Guess it isn't that simple, huh??

[turtlehead]

While I don't know specifics, where I used to live the electric co-op would come out and put a fiberglass insulation jacket on the water heater and install a timer of some sort, all free of charge.

I'd say if the electric co-op realized enough savings in electricity demand to do that free of charge, it must be worth it! I don't know if the water heater was completely off and then completely on, or if it was set to "tepid" and then "hot" or what.

[hunter63]

Amp draw even on a 120 Volt water heater is pretty hign ( lower if 208/220), so a cheap lamp timer will not work well, or for very long.

If you buy one, look at the amp rating on the timer and on the heater, need to match.

Tried to hook one up, (timer) on a mercery vapor lamp (think was 3000 watts) as a grow light, the timer cycled ever couple of hours, then burned out.

[MaryNY]

I had something like this hooked up in a mobile where I used to live. I had the electric hot water heater well-blanketed and it was located in the bedroom closet.

Rather than having a timer put on the hot water heater, a friend of mine (qualified electrician) put a "turn off" in the 220 line between the circuit breaker box and the hot water heater. The "turn off" thingy was basically a metal box with a handle on it. Every morning when I got up, I turned it on, took my shower, etc., then turned it off (it's easy to form the habit), and then it was off the rest of the day (until the next morning) unless I wanted to run a load of wash or run the dishwasher -- otherwise, the water was plenty warm enough for anything I might want to do. So basically the hot water heater was on for may 60 to 90 minutes each morning.

Even when I went away for the weekend and turned the hot water heater off on Fri. AM, the water was still warm enough for a shower on Mon. AM even if I forgot to pull the handle to turn it back on when I got up that day. You would be surprised how warm that water stays - and for how long - when the hot water heater is well insulated.

Good luck with your project!

MaryNY

[Old_Town]

http://www.onestopshopcatalog.com/wh21.html

Why not buy one of these? They are easy to install, cheap and engineered for the very purpose.

[cc-rider]

Originally Posted by Old_Town

http://www.onestopshopcatalog.com/wh21.html

Why not buy one of these? They are easy to install, cheap and engineered for the very purpose.

Does 12 on/12 off mean that is the only setting? I can't do 6 on / 18 off?

Why does it have a pilot light??? That confuses me.

[Wolf mom]

I have one of those timers shown. There are two tmers that look like that, so make sure if you have 220, you get the 220 timer. Cost me about 45$ very reasonable for the large amount of savings.
It comes with 2 tabs that you set according to the time you want it to turn on & then off.

I bought another set of tabs and have the first set go on in the AM for a couple of hours, then it turns itself off where I set the tab. The other set (2 tabs) are for the evening from about 6 PM until 8 PM. So, all in all, the water heater is on for about 4 hours a day. It's pretty new and is well insulated so if I need to wash my hands or something when it's off I seem to have enough hot water for all day.

If I want to do all my laundry in one day or whatever, I can override the tabs by just pushing an on/off lever without touching or resetting the tabs.

PS. The water heats up very quickly. I think for the investment the amount of savings is better than most other things you can do.

[wy_white_wolf]

Originally Posted by cc-rider

Does 12 on/12 off mean that is the only setting? I can't do 6 on / 18 off?

Why does it have a pilot light??? That confuses me.

12 ON / 12OFF means you can sey it to cycle on and off 12 times during a day

[BTO]

Originally Posted by turtlehead

While I don't know specifics, where I used to live the electric co-op would come out and put a fiberglass insulation jacket on the water heater and install a timer of some sort, all free of charge.

I'd say if the electric co-op realized enough savings in electricity demand to do that free of charge, it must be worth it! I don't know if the water heater was completely off and then completely on, or if it was set to "tepid" and then "hot" or what.

The power company does that in Maine. The controller for turning the heater off and on is controlled by them by transmitting a control signal through the house wiring. I got a break on my electricity for letting them do it and they got to drop loads during peak demand periods. I never noticed a difference in water temperature.

[Wolf mom]

Just reread the post, the advertisement, then looked at my timer...
Have no idea why it has a pilot light maybe the one shown is for gas??

I have an Intermatic Mechanical Time Switch. It's a number T104 for 220 v with it's own surge protector (needed in this area). This company makes a bunch of different ones. I bought mine at Ace Hardware and had someone install it. Some Home Depots also carry them.

I never put one on my gas water heater.
This is the second home that I've put them on. The first had a water heater in the bedroom wing, so I had 2 timers in that home.

As far as instant water heaters, I looked into them as I have a spa tub. The issue is having hard water. If you have hard water, they eventually don't work well due to mineral build up.

[cc-rider]

I have VERY hard water, so that's why I nixed the tankless idea.

New question (I haven't bought the tank yet)..... would I be better going with a 40 gal (thinking it is easier to keep LOTS of warm water warm), or a smaller one which would heat up faster and have to be on a shorter time?

It's usually just ME, so don't use lots and lots of water. Although my showers tend to drag on when I've been working outside and want to get the aches out....

[alpinechicken]

Consider a Tankless.

I have a propane Takgai, smallest model. It cost 600.00 about 100.00 more for plumbing and venting. Installed it myself. I can run The radiant floor heat a shower easily.

We have hard water. Put in a water softner another 500.00 The water softner makes a big difference and not just with the heater. Saves on soap and hard water cleaners that we spent alot on. Or there are kits that you can use to descale it once a year.

If you can hang it outside (depends on location) you can save on the venting too.

Jill

[fishhead]

I just put a timer on my heater. It comes on for 1 hour each morning so I can shower before work. If I want to do dishes or take an evening shower I just switch the timer to manual for a while.

I haven't done any calculation but I expect the timer to pay for itself in less than a year.

[Micahn]

This post may be unpopular with a lot of people as it is going to tell the truth instead of a lot of myths like has been posted.

I was a plumber for over 20 years and even took over my fathers company until I got hurt and could no longer work. I was lucky growing up as my father was also a master plumber and was willing to pay for any school I wanted to go to so i could better myself. I decided to be a plumber like him so went to any school I could find related to he field. I could have a wall lined with diplomas that would make any doctor hang his head in shame. I even went to the NASA school for solar way back when they had it.
After I got hurt I was a instructor at a plumbing apprenticeships school for a few years then became the coordinator for it (same as lets say principal)

Anyway here it goes related to this topic.

Your best bet if you want to save money would be a tank less water heater. It should not cost any more then a standard water heater in most cases depending on the size you need.

A water heater blanket is about the worst thing you can do to a water heater. A water heater if it is off for some reason can sweat a little because of the cold water coming into it. If a blanket is used it will hold that water on it and will cause rust to start forming. Rust can cause all kinds of problems with water heaters. It can cause the joints at welds to start leaking is the main one. That would mean buying a new heater.

Depending on the age of your water heater a timer might be useless. If it is say under 20 years old chances are it will not save you much at all. If it is older then that the insulation chances are is not all that good and a timer could help you out some. I would set it to run a hour before you need any hot water and run about a hour after. Chances are it would hold enough heat over night to wash up in the mornings but would depend on the size really the bigger the better.
a Modern water heater will hold that heat for days if the power or gas is off. Sure it will go down some but I have seen hot water come from a heater that the power was off for 3 or 4 days.
Now if your going to be away for a few days by all means turn it off as it would just be wasting power. But if your there every day and your heater is newer chances are it would take years to save enough to even pay for the timer.

Oh almost forgot, A tank less one would work fine on well water as long as the water is not all that bad. Your heater now is ok right ? A tank less heater works in the same way just does not have the big tank with it. Plus it has a sensor that says ok water is moving time to turn on. If you water is real bad you should have some sort of filter on the whole house anyway to keep what ever it is down some anyway. It could be anything from sand to any number of things that could be filtered out easy to make your water much better for you and your plumbing system.

[Charleen]

Our electric tank is on a timer and is set to heat from 5-10 pm (just like you suggested). We experimented with these times and found that these times work okay for us. We're both at work during the day, so no one is home to need warm water. We manually turn on the heater on Sat & Sun if we need it. We both take a shower before bed. We set the dishwasher to turn on after we're done with our showers. I can usually squeeze in a load of laundry before the tank runs cold, too. There is still enough warm water for me in the morning too.

We've looked into tankless and may switch to that in the future.

[WisJim]

We had used an electric water heater with a timer for decades with no problems. Had it come on at 5 am and off at 9am and on again at 6pm, off 9pm. Then we switched to a propane heater with electronic ignition, have a timer on it, too, and have it on 5 am to 9am and the water usually is warm enough to do dishes after supper. If someone wants to take a shower after that, we turn it on again for an hour.

Water heater blankets work well, and don't cause additional problems with newer water heaters, as the newer water heaters are already well insulated, and you would be just adding more insulation.

A tankless water heater may not cost a lot more than a "regular" water heater, but the required vent pipe could add many hundreds of dollars to the cost of the installation.

Another way to save some money heating water, if you don't want to go with solar, is to have an uninsulated tank that the water goes through before it goes into the water heater, giving the water a chance to warm up to room temperature and taking less energy to heat.