# Water Heater Timers



## Mitch M (Dec 4, 2006)

Has anyone found whether it is worth it to put a water heater on a timer? When I turned mine on for the first time or after it has been over for several days for vacation i found that it was pretty hot after about an hour. I figured i could turn it on about 2 hours before the earliest person and about the time the last person would need it. then again towards the end of the day before everyone gets home. Basically it would only need to run about 5-6 hours a day.


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## ohiohomedoctor (Dec 26, 2010)

I have seen a few of the new models have programmable digital timers built into them. The one I saw was controlled through the whole house control center.


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## Mitch M (Dec 4, 2006)

Do you know what kind of system it was?


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

I put a remote on a baseboard heater, just put a contactor in an 8" box and a timed switch setup for remote access so the client could remotely turn it on and off. Guess you could do the same on WH.


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## Mitch M (Dec 4, 2006)

I guess the reason I am thinking is to save energy. I would probably do this for my own house first. I am wondering what kind of payback there would be. I am also thinking about a smart house system and I could get the programming on that if it is worth it.


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## SLSTech (Sep 13, 2008)

If you have a set schedule, it can help save money - how much depends on the unit, your schedule, usage, etc... 
As for when you should have the unit comes on, it depends on how well insulated it is and how quickly it can get up to temp - generally the heat lost overnight in an older unit should easily be regained in 20 to 30 minutes. Basically the best advice is if you go this route - shoot for 15 minutes before & add time as necessary.


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## Mitch M (Dec 4, 2006)

the one I have right now is only a little over a year old. I have done research on it and it looks like it might be worth it. I can wire it myself. the first shower is at 5:45 AM and then the last one is typically a little after 7. so I can probably turn it on at 5 and turn it off at 7. Then I would probably need to turn it on again at 5PM to allow for dinner and me taking another shower due to sweating outside. Turn off again at 7? So basically a total of 4 hours a day? I can also modify that for weekends to only once a day.

Just thinking out loud


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## KillerToiletSpider (May 27, 2007)

Just get a tankless.


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## Mitch M (Dec 4, 2006)

No thank you on the tankless. I have a perfectly good electric just over a year old. If I ever do a major renovation I might change it that. I did consider it a few years ago at another house but it would have cost me over a $1000 and the payback would have been way too long.

I also heard from my plumber that the payback on a tankless is way too long. It some cases it actually costs more money and also the maintenance costs are more. Does not matter to me but I am just curious if this is true.


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## concretemasonry (Dec 1, 2006)

If you have a good water heater there will be enough insulation to avoid the hourly variations and you will not be paranoid about the shower schedules and spending money to save pennies. - What if someone decides to get dirty or shower out of the established schedule?


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## Mitch M (Dec 4, 2006)

I would consider that once I set the schedule. The biggest thing right now is to see if it would be worth it. What kind of payback would there be? I might have to adjust the schedule for a while. It is just me and my wife and one daughter at community college. The other is getting married in a few months.

I don't want to waste money on something that the payback might be way too long to make it worthwhile.


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## We Fix Houses (Aug 15, 2007)

http://waterheatertimer.org/How-much-does-it-cost-to-run-water-heater.html


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

> No thank you on the tankless. I have a perfectly good electric just over a year old. If I ever do a major renovation I might change it that. I did consider it a few years ago at another house but it would have cost me over a $1000 and the payback would have been way too long.


I hear ya Mitch but I think investing time and money into a timer for the water heater is kind of jumping over a dollar to pick up a penny. They never really feel warm how much heat can they really loose?


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## Mitch M (Dec 4, 2006)

I just did a calculation on my water heater. It is a 4500 Watt. It wikk cost about $50 a month. Based on the cost of a timer of about $50-60 and the estimated savings of around $10-15 a month based in research, a payback would be in about 6 months. So I guess it might be worth it. Even if it takes a year, it still might be worth it as we will be here for awhile.

I just did not want to entertain the idea if it was going to be several years. I try to come up with ideas of anything that can save clients money but it is also something that I can do or have my subs do. Like trying to keep my foot in the door.


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## Sam60 (Apr 29, 2006)

I think there is a reason they are not popular.
Tanks are insulated pretty good and seem to hold the temp.
Dont think it cost that much to keep it warm. You maybe not saving much heating it back up.
Would not expect much of a payback.


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 15, 2010)

Or just do what my mother-in-law does, turn the power off to the elec. W/H when she won't need hot water.


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## TNTRenovate (Aug 19, 2010)

We have gas here, so no need for a timer.


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## joeh20 (Jan 4, 2012)

One extra benefit would be fewer hours on the elements. They might last a bit longer. They're not that much but it helps. I wouldn't worry about the extra insulation. If you're gonna turn it off right after the last shower and right after supper you won't have real hot water sitting all night or all day. 

I knew a guy that put 500 feet of ABS tubing in his attic and fed his water heater with that every summer, he would valve it off and drain it in the winter. He also had a concrete slab in a 3 foot crawspace with explosion proof lights covers with 12 volt dc incadescant bulbs in them, you could get on a creeper and go under the whole house. All the lights in the house were all 12 vdc too, he had little metal toggle switches for light switches. His power bill might not have been much, but he made it with Prozac.


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

> One extra benefit would be fewer hours on the elements. They might last a bit longer. They're not that much but it helps. I wouldn't worry about the extra insulation. If you're gonna turn it off right after the last shower and right after supper you won't have real hot water sitting all night or all day.


Or shorten the life because they are running hotter for longer bringing a cold tank of water back up to temp when it turns on.

Aren't the elements only 25 bucks anyway?


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## Tinstaafl (Jan 6, 2008)

They ain't gonna run any hotter, regardless of what the temp is. :whistling:

And they'll cycle less times per day, meaning less mechanical stress. We could go around on this for a week. :laughing:


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