Greensboring.com | Greensboro, NC

Re: Get Water Heater Switch... Save Planet.

2012-01-21T23:01:23+00:00

Breakers aren't meant to be switched on and off, multiple times throughout the day. I wouldn't want to wake up one morning and not have any hot water. Worse yet I'd be standing their naked with a breaker that now needs replacing.

Furthermore, since my breaker box is on the outside of the house, I generally do not feel like tramping though the outside yard at 6:00 AM to take a shower.

Statistics: Posted by Liv — Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:01 pm

Re: Get Water Heater Switch... Save Planet.

2012-01-21T21:58:50+00:00

So, why not just flip the breaker off instead of installing a lightswitch? I have a breaker specifically for the water heater, located inside my home.

Statistics: Posted by Guest — Sat Jan 21, 2012 9:58 pm

Re: Get Water Heater Switch... Save Planet.

2010-11-01T19:50:49+00:00

Glad to hear it, so far it has been the most dramatic thing I've done to conserve energy so far. Wish I would have done it four years ago now, would have meant a lot of money in my pocket.

Statistics: Posted by Liv — Mon Nov 01, 2010 7:50 pm

Re: Get Water Heater Switch... Save Planet.

2010-11-01T17:58:03+00:00

Been using a similar system for years now. I have a family of three and save $30 - 40 a month on my electric bill.
Only downside is not having hot water on demand, but a 5 - 15 minute wait isn't hurting anyone.

Statistics: Posted by Guest — Mon Nov 01, 2010 5:58 pm

Re: Get Water Heater Switch... Save Planet.

2010-09-23T15:53:42+00:00

Well time will ultimately tell, just to make sure it wasn't because of less laundry, etc....

Hopefully the savings will remain....

I'm going to try and pick up a water heater blanket when I get a chance, and see if we can further it.

Statistics: Posted by Liv — Thu Sep 23, 2010 3:53 pm

Re: Get Water Heater Switch... Save Planet.

2010-09-23T15:36:58+00:00

Congrats. You can buy a 12 pack of beer and drink it knowing you have done something to improve the planet.

That sounds more sarky than I intended. Lots of small things add up.

When I visited my mum I checked her bills and the savings would have been negligible ($5 max). Since she's renting an apartment I didn't bother installing the timer

Statistics: Posted by A Person — Thu Sep 23, 2010 3:36 pm

Re: Get Water Heater Switch... Save Planet.

2010-09-23T12:58:49+00:00

Well the verdict is in... after doing the math, and comparing the last average temperature month and breaking it down by day to get an equal comparison.

I came up with a 235 KWH difference.

Now the kids were out of school then, but the lights are all motion sensitive fluorescent and the only thing they used that would have likely resulted in more power is the tv in their rooms. Even if they used it for 12 hours a day, we're talking a max of 60 Kwh leaving 190kwh difference. I don't think they watched that much tv.

So apparently... this modification is highly beneficial.

If it saved 200 Kwh, that means at my .11 cent rate- I saved $22 for the month. Not bad.

Statistics: Posted by Liv — Thu Sep 23, 2010 12:58 pm

Re: Water Heater Timers & Switch Modification

2010-07-20T17:05:41+00:00

It was just one of those things I forgot....

I thought there might be room to make all the connections in the control panel of the water heater but there's barely enough space to get the single line in... I'll try to get pictures next time I'm under there.... it's taking me two days to get the cobwebs out of my hair...

Statistics: Posted by Liv — Tue Jul 20, 2010 5:05 pm

Re: Water Heater Timers & Switch Modification

2010-07-20T17:05:41+00:00

I actually thought about doing something like that with one of those timers you turn and they count down... I only found them in 110, so I consider using a contactor like the one I installed on the HVAC...

...and I might down the road.... but $30 is about my limit right now... as I've got a $900 school bill not including books and the Pell Grant hasn't been approved yet....

I do need to buy a small conduit box as we're about to have the house inspected and I'd hate for them to flip to see the old power line simply connected to the new line with the wire nuts....

I'll pick up a conduit box and mount it on the floor joist so everything looks up to code. (Which I assume that is code.)

Statistics: Posted by Liv — Tue Jul 20, 2010 5:05 pm

Re: Water Heater Timers & Switch Modification

2010-07-20T17:05:41+00:00

Well last couple days we've been using the switch I've discovered how little we actually need to turn on the heater. If we turn it on at night for about 15 minutes it's fully hot. We do dishes, clothes and showers then shut it off (about 2 hours) There's still plenty of hot water even in the morning if we don't turn it back on. If we do turn it on... (usually because I like to shower in the morning) it's on for another 30-45 minutes. So all together the water heater is on about 3-4 hours a day instead of 24 hours. The water never seems to get cold... unless you run out the tank without the switch on...

I suspect I'll see a massive difference in the power bills... especially for a couple reasons...

1) when I went into wire the switch, and pulled the panel, the temperature was set to 140F (which makes sense because our dishwasher doesn't have a heater).

2) This is a 22 year old water heater that's never been flushed. Its original energy rating was $450 a year, and I suspect it's not nearly as efficient anymore.

3) This water heater is in the crawl space, which as I discovered... even when it's 90F out.. was rather cool and cold. I imagine during the winder it's much, much colder.

I'm really excited to see how much I'll actually save. The timer seemed like a good idea originally and wouldn't have required me to install a switch but it also meant the timer was below the house as well which meant it couldn't be manually controlled and I'd be stuck with a program that was least likely to interfere with a changing schedule. Since I took the cheap route and ran the switch with a minimal amount of cable, (basically right above where it is in our room) then I'm getting the best of both worlds. If this truly is cost efficient, at a later date I might invest more money into locating the switch to the bathroom, or utility closet. But that would have cost me about $100 worth of cable not to mention those rooms had been recently painted and I didn't want to cut through the drywall. This works well. The switch is right on the wall in our room, and when I go to bed at night I can check it to make sure it's off.

Statistics: Posted by Liv — Tue Jul 20, 2010 5:05 pm