Electric Hot Water Heaters-$$$$$$$$ on electric bill?

[TR Custom Parts]

Well, reality is rearing it's ugly head in my "new" house. I have an 50 gallon electric hot water heater and just received my first full electric bill. $158!! Granted it has been cold as hell here in the Northeast this winter with the furnace running just about non-stop but this is ridiculous. Was thinking about getting a timer to shut it off during the night and during the day when we are at work. Anyone use one of these timers and is it worth it?

I know there are tankless hot water heaters out there but I only have a 100 amp service and it seems like most of them require at least a 125 amp service.

 

[bishir]

I live in Florida, our house is all electric, and our electric bill was 270 last month! and there is only 2 of us. Plus, we barely used the heater.

James

 

[RICHIE HIGH PSI]

I work for the power co here in FL.
I read about this all the time.
A timer will not save you any money.!!!
Timer=$40.00
Labor to install =$60.00
total 100.00
Savings for timer $6.00 for a year
That means it would take you 16years to recover the timer.
HTH
Richie

 

[TURBOV6]

Install a heat pump or install a timmer to the water heater.

 

[gnXfan]

The timer my family had was plug and play - no install cost.

FYI, my gas bill last month was 180 bucks (heat and water) for a 1080 sq ft apt. My electric was 55 bucks and I make 10 gallons of distilled water a week in a 800w distiller.

 

[Lee_Burough]

Put a "blanket" on the water heater and adjust the water temperature to the lowest setting you can get along with.

 

[Renthorin]

180 seems a bit high but I don't know what other stuff you have running.

We have an electric water heater, 3 aquariums each with a 300 watt heater and numerous filters, a pond heater, a hot tub, and I take a warm bath every night (legs hurt a lot) and ours is usually 175.00

 

[myclone]

Dunno if this exists but if there is something available that can lower the setting automatically at no/low usage times it may help. Ive thought about checking into this or building something myself (electronics tech here). The next best thing IMO is to turn the temp down to where its still nice and toasty but not boiling hot and insulate the heater as much as possible.

As was mentioned turning the heater off completely only makes the heater work harder to heat the water back up if it gets too cold which prolly costs more in the long run.

My house is ALL electric cept for the cook stove and my bill is ~145.00 in the winter. Hot water heater is set about 120 deg.

 

[matt87]

no gas hookups in your new house Mark? if so switch it!

 

[TR Custom Parts]

No gas, but to tell the truth the prices on gas are thru the roof around here too.

Was wondering about the timer and having the heater off all day and whether it is worth it or not. Wonder how much the water will cool down being off all day and then during the night. The heater I have is pretty new and appears to be well insulated.

 

[gnXfan]

And most newer models have such good 'walls' that additional insulation is not needed. I shut my heater off if I am going to have a 12hr break between showers or use of the dishwasher. It leaves the water hot enough for hand washing.

I keep it at 140 normally though! Love hot cold showers !

 

[Little6pack]

AH I have had this arguement with my Father in law about our CAPE COD house..
He use to shut the electric heater while we hung at the beach all day..
Would take forever to reheat.
TILL someone other than me told him to leave it on!
never made a $$ savings using his shut off method.

I assume your bill includes the whole electric use for the house?

Blanket is good if it is older. Switching to gas is an idea too.

 

[Turtle TR]

or you can turn off the heater on the panel since NEMA says it must be on it's own circuit. we used to turn off the breaker to the heater and turn it back on an hour before someone takes a bath. it's kind incoveinient but it saved us a huge amount of money. we use a timer at our new house, it's ok at saving money on the electric bill.

 

[TR Custom Parts]

Heat is oil so we have that to deal with to. Glad I locked in a 124.9 a gallon.

 

[AsphaltAnihil8r]

Deal with it my GAs bill was $196 for the month and the Electric was $70,,so if you only have 1 bill be happy