Saving money on turning off the hot water heater?

**homemaker66** · 06-08-2006, 12:30 PM

Well Girls here is a question for you. My DH thinks that we would not save any money

on the light bill if we DON'T turn off the hot water heater durning the day. I say that we can save money on the bill if we keep it turned off all day then turn it on for the night showers then turn it off until the next time. There is no one home except me through out the day. What do you think?

**celina** · 06-08-2006, 12:32 PM

looking forward to this response...but what about day time dishes and such...

**Birdie** · 06-08-2006, 12:51 PM

Years ago I put a timer on my electric hot water heater and saved $20 immediately, the first month. I think you would save enough to notice. try it and monitor your meter.

**homemaker66** · 06-08-2006, 03:42 PM

On the dishes throughout the day, The water is still warm enough to use. The water is warm enough to wash up in the morning and there is really no extra dishes around all day until supper time then I turn it on and use it then. I always wash my clothes in cold and after 9:00 pm when the power rates start dropping down.

**YankeeMom** · 06-08-2006, 05:06 PM

I would think a timer would save $$

**banana** · 06-09-2006, 06:58 AM

When we lived in an all electric house (exepct heat) including a well and septic. Our electric bill was always around $100 a month. My hubby put a timer on the hotwater heater. He had it set to go on 1/2 hour before he got up in the morning. The bill went down around $20 a month just by doing this. If we needed more hotwater throughout the day there was an override switch which I used when I had to give the baby a bath or run the dishwasher at night. I would say it would save you money.

Try calling up your electric company and ask them what it cost you approximately a month for the water heater. If you shut it off most of the day that would give you an idea as to what you can possibly save!

**Puffy** · 06-09-2006, 04:32 PM

We put a timer on our hot water heater three months ago and have seen adrop in the electric bill but not sure how muhc is because of the timer or the weather getting warmer and not having to run the pellet stove all the time. I know that it does save us money, we have it set to come on 30 minutes before showers in the morning and then shut off at 8am when we're out the door, comes back on at 3pm when home from work/school and goes off again at 8pm for the night. I use the override switch on the weekends during the day for laundry, dishes and such. I think it will make a BIG difference in the winter when the water comes into the heater much colder than now.

**willow** · 06-16-2006, 09:24 PM

Can anyone tell me how you put a timer on your hot water heater and how much these cost?

**banana** · 06-17-2006, 09:32 AM

Gee, its been a long time approx 10 years! I remember when we didnt have the timer yet I would flip the circuit breaker. I hope someone here can give you some tips on how to install it.

**cheapsk8** · 06-17-2006, 09:12 PM

My brother is a heating and cooling guy and I just asked him about this last week. According to his chart, it costs around $12.48 a week. Next time he comes is he is bringing me one. He says they cost aroung $25-30, and it is just a couple of wires to hook it up. I'am an idiot when it comes to electricity, so he does all of our hook up things.

**Puffy** · 06-20-2006, 07:53 PM

We had a friend who knew what he was doing put it on for us, we're not going to mess with electric wires, the timer was $50 and we paid him $25

**willow** · 06-20-2006, 09:42 PM

Thank you Puffy, how long do you think it will take to make up your investment and start seeing a savings?

**pammy** · 06-21-2006, 09:33 AM

Interesting responses, now I'm thinking I need to get a timer. Anything to keep from giving the ole electric company more of our money.

**Puffy** · 06-24-2006, 10:51 AM

We've had a combination of things lowering our electric bill. Last summer we bought a new energy star fridge and saw an immediate $20 per MONTH reduction on the electric bill, we had the timer put on the water heater and now with summer here we are not using the pellet stove, humidifier, or fans to heat the house and with the longer days using much less lights, and with the warmer weather the hot water heater doesn't need to work as hard to heat up. The 30 year old freezer died last week and the new, more energy efficient, one was delivered yesterday. I'm expecting the next electric bill to be around $90 max and expecting the next one to be lower. As for paying back on the timer, while we didn't see the immediate drop we were expecting it continues to make the elec bill lower, I would extimate that it took 3-4 months to pay for itself.