Water Heaters

This question strikes me as... strange! Why would someone switch on the heater the entire day unless she is bathing the 24 hours? I am not sure if things are different elsewhere but over here, we just switch on the heater before going into the bathroom and within a min or so, the water will be heated enough and give it another min and it would be as scalding hot as you want. Then after our shower, we just switch it off. Do you know that 5 min of heater on is somewhat equal to your entire electricity usage for the day minus TV and computer?

I've never known anyone who did this, turn it off at night. The only time I've ever turned mine off was when I was going on vacation for a week or so. I would think for just a few hours it wouldn't make since - like you said it would take as much energy to warm it back up.

I think that it would take just as much electricity to warm the water again come morning if the water heater was turned off each night. We do turn ours off if we are going to be gone for more than a day. We also turned down the temperature of the water which the tank keeps. That helped reduce our bill. We also turn our thermostat down on the furnace if we are going to be gone more than a day.

One of the #1 areas where you are going to get a high electric bill is from your HOT water heater. I actually have a very large one (whirlpool tub requires it) but I have found that because I have bought a highly efficient one and I know of nobody that has a lower electric bill than what I do, I don't even bother. Remember also that the water is going to get cold (at least tepid) and is going to need to be heated back up again which may just wipe out any savings you would have of turning it off. I believe it is extremely frugal to do that and something I personally would not recommend. Thanks Zelo

No I wouldn't do that because I live by myself and wouldn't know how to turn it back on! If I have problems I have to call a plumber. But I have heard that it takes more energy to reheat or heat up your house after you have turned off the furnace etc.

I actually turned my hot water heater (don't shoot me) off at night for a month to see if it would change my electric bill. It didn't. And what was worse is I had to wait twice as long the next morning after I turned it back on to get the water hot enough for my shower. It was a waste of time and not a money saver.

If you want to save money with your water heater, just make sure the water temperature is never set higher than medium. The water is hot enough to bathe or shower, but will not be hot enough to scald you or any children in the house. It is economical and much safer and you will find that your water heater will last much longer that way. Now, as far as turning off your water heater, you must all have electric water heaters in your home. Turning off a gas water heater for a lengthy period, even just overnight, can cause an explosion in your home. The heater builds up so much pressure and it has nowhere to go. You have to completely shut off the supply of natural gas to the heater itself, not just shut it off. You won't be saving much money if it explodes and sends the heater hurling through your roof and possibly setting your whole house on fire. Check with a plumber before shutting off any appliance that is serviced by natural gas or just call the gas company. I just don't want any of you getting hurt, so I'm passing this along to all my friends at My Lot. Have a great day!

No we don't switch ours off and on. For one it would be a pain in the behind to get to it so that we could turn it off and on. And I don't have that much patience in the morning to wait for it to heat back up so I can get in the bath. But I don't think it would save you money. I think it would go up because your heater would be working harder to heat it back up so you could use it again.

We turn it doen when we are going out of town and durring the summer when we dont need the heat so much for baths any more. I dont know if it saves us anything though. It is what I have always done so I have nothing to compare it too. I would love to get one of thoes that just heat the water as we need it but until ours breaks there is no use throwing away the money.

i do it once the water is hot i doswitch off the heater

We dont switch off the heaters even in summer like this. We just want to have a hot shower to relax at night time.

I don't turn mine off. I think that it would take just as much energy to reheat. I am not for sure though. I have read a lot on all of the energy saving water heaters though. I considered changing mine out last year but did not. If you put something around your water heater it helps to conserve energy.

If you call your power company they will come out and put a timer on your water heater for you, no charge. They will even give you a rebate for letting them control it during peak hours. It will save you a lot of money. I turn mine off myself, and I save 24 dollars a month. Add that up over a year kids. And my water heater is a small one. It takes half an hour for my water to get hot enough for a shower and still have enough to do the dishes. Shalom

Turning the water heater off and on, like most have been saying so far, isn't worth the effort and inconvenience. A blanket will help, as will lowering the temp. Most water heaters are set, from the factory, at 160 degrees F. I don't know about you, but I can't tolerate water that hot! Turning it down to, say, 120, would be more cost effective than turning it off and on. Now, if you REALLY wanted to save money, look into the "on demand water heaters", or "instant hot". They're costly to buy and install, but well worth the investment and usually pay for themselves in a few years.

I am not sure that turning it off would save that much - after all it would have to work to re-heat the water the next time it was turned back on. My husband and I are looking into a "tankless" water heater. They heat water on demand and only use electricity when hot water is needed. This saves on the electricity and you never run out of hot water. I think when we replace our current water heater, we will get a tankless version.