I was told to turn off my hot water heater during the day as it would save roughly $50.00 per month on the power bill. Wish me luck!
By Joyce Lambert from Nokomis, AL
Editor's Note: There may be a safety concern with turning on and off a gas water heater regularly. With either gas or electric, you may want to call your utility company and see if they can see any safety problems with this tip.
My power company says that cutting it off everyday is not worth it because when you get home and cut it on then it has to run and run to get hot. They said if you are going to be gone for several days then yes it would help! We always cut ours off when we go on vacation. (06/10/2010)
By Teresa Tart
If your heater was made after 1998, it's probably not worth using a timer at all. A timer for an old (pre-1998) heater will save about 25kWh/mo. for a family of two using 40 gallons a day with the heater off four to six hours a day, but only 14kWh/mo. for a family of four using 80 gallons a day.
Home improvement stores sell a special water heater blanket that you can put around your heater to help insulate it. This reduces energy use by 10-15% -- for a family of two, that's about 21kWh/mo., or $20/yr. at 8¢/kWh. The savings are only slightly less for a family of four.
When it's set on scalding hot, you have to mix in cold water in your shower to lower the temperature, and why make your heater boil the water if you don't need it that hot? You can probably do with the temperature set to 110 degrees F or less.
(06/10/2010)
By scott E.
Recent hot water heaters (10 years and newer) have safety thermometers on them to not get the water over 120 degrees. You can over ride them, but that defeats the safety purpose as well as the cost. (06/10/2010)
By Grandma J
When I lived alone, I would turn off the water heater breaker at night after my shower, I still had hot enough hot water in the a.m. to get ready for work. I have left mine off for up to 2 days and still be warm enough for showers, but as I said, I was single, no family there. I would turn it on before going to work and off again when I got home. Strange an electric company saying it isn't worth it, when mine said to do it and I have seen it on TV and the internet. (06/12/2010)
By Sheila
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