Get Water Heater Switch... Save Planet.

by **A Person** » Thu Sep 23, 2010 3:36 pm

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

by **Liv** » Thu Sep 23, 2010 3:53 pm

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.

by **Guest** » Mon Nov 01, 2010 5:58 pm

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.

by **Liv** » Mon Nov 01, 2010 7:50 pm

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.

by **Shinrin** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 9:58 pm

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.

by **Liv** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:01 pm

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.