Electric water heater timer

[xpc]

My 30 gallon electric water heater has a yearly usage label of $500 @ 4700 kWh:

$500 yearly = $42 month, a total use of 4700kwh = 392kwh monthly (which is less than my total monthly electric usage) 392kwh /30 days = 13kwh daily and is equal to 44,000 btus and the equivalence of raising 100 gallons of water by 50 degrees per day. Mine actually uses only $6 a month in electricity.

Here is the US Energy website and their recommendations - they say to touch the tank to see if it feels warm, but is not a good indication of heat loss because any metal colder than your body (98.6F) will feel cool to the touch. I used digital thermometers taped to the tank about 3/4 up.

http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/water_heating/index.cfm/mytopic=13070

 

[johnElarue]

Great info there,

I can't believe it's only 6$ for almost 400KWH. My summer low usage is that much and it cost about 80$. And prices aren't going down anytime soon, haha.

 

[xpc]

Great info there,

I can't believe it's only 6$ for almost 400KWH. My summer low usage is that much and it cost about 80$. And prices aren't going down anytime soon, haha.

Hey John, is that a first navy flag of New England's militia?

The water heaters label only purports to use 400 kwh as a greedy consumer, I myself only use 60 kwh. My total monthly usage for all electrical is less than 300kwh - by the way my house is 100% electrical and use less power than most people use just for hot water.

 

[johnElarue]

Hi xpc,

It's the Bunker Hill flag, though don't think it was used in the navy.

Sorry, my mistake on the calculations. Good job on keeping the bill way down. My home is all electric too, except for heat, which is wood, and am averaging 500KWH/ month (family of 5). I suspect most of it is for hot water. I can only forsee this rising as the kids get bigger, . I hope to offset some usage, with renewables soon though.

john

 

[xpc]

My only heat is also wood, keeping your electric at 500kwh with a family of 5 must be a task unto itself - I commend you.

Most people have been brainwashed into taking a shower both morning and night even after scientific studies have proved anything more than twice a week is detrimental to you health. Of course if you sweated yourself filthy that's another story.

You are probably right about the water heater consumption being half your bill at 300kwh a month, start to get the kids on a conservation program now before they get older. and insulate your tank and turn the temp down to 120F.

 

[hwillm1977]

You are probably right about the water heater consumption being half your bill at 300kwh a month, start to get the kids on a conservation program now before they get older. and insulate your tank and turn the temp down to 120F.

lol... my dad used to make us take 'navy showers'... which is what he had to do on an aircraft carrier... he gave us 30 seconds of water to get wet, turn the water off... get soaped up... and then 60 seconds of water to rinse off... it became a race between my brother and I to see who could have the fastest shower

We heat with electric/wood here, and our electricity use is embarassing, with a high in the coldest months of 6500KWh when it was just electric, that went down by 1000 when we installed the wood stove, and down a bit more this winter now that we have insulation in some of the walls... but when you have no insulation and it's -40 outside, you are generally paying to heat the outdoors.

When the fire is out, even with all 12,500W of electric baseboards going full blast the house rarely goes above 50F... with the stove on it actually gets warm in here.

Our water heater is right beside the woodstove, so it would rarely turn on in the winter, the heat from the stove keeps the water warm.

 

[FarmerChick]

HW
what kinda bill do you get for electric in the cold months?
that has to be UGH--wild?

 

[hwillm1977]

HW
what kinda bill do you get for electric in the cold months?
that has to be UGH--wild?

We pay 9.69 cents/KWh for the first 1300, after that it's 9.22 cents. There's also a monthly service charge, even if you use ZERO Kwh the bill is $30... plus there's 13% tax on power.

The biggest bill we've ever gotten here was the first winter (we moved in November 15th, completely unprepared for an uninsulated house) and the bill for January was $776...

We've been slowly improving the house and insulating, so it rarely gets above $400 a month now.

 

[xpc]

You are probably right about the water heater consumption being half your bill at 300kwh a month, start to get the kids on a conservation program now before they get older. and insulate your tank and turn the temp down to 120F.

lol... my dad used to make us take 'navy showers'... which is what he had to do on an aircraft carrier... he gave us 30 seconds of water to get wet, turn the water off... get soaped up... and then 60 seconds of water to rinse off... it became a race between my brother and I to see who could have the fastest shower

We heat with electric/wood here, and our electricity use is embarassing, with a high in the coldest months of 6500KWh when it was just electric, that went down by 1000 when we installed the wood stove, and down a bit more this winter now that we have insulation in some of the walls... but when you have no insulation and it's -40 outside, you are generally paying to heat the outdoors.

When the fire is out, even with all 12,500W of electric baseboards going full blast the house rarely goes above 50F... with the stove on it actually gets warm in here.

Our water heater is right beside the woodstove, so it would rarely turn on in the winter, the heat from the stove keeps the water warm.

The American average is 800Kwh a month so either your numbers are off or you are burning some serious electricity, how much is your bill? I was in the navy and never took a shower like that though we have heard of them. Also 12kw of baseboard would barely heat a 800 sq. ft. house even if well insulated.

 

[FarmerChick]

HW
what kinda bill do you get for electric in the cold months?
that has to be UGH--wild?

We pay 9.69 cents/KWh for the first 1300, after that it's 9.22 cents. There's also a monthly service charge, even if you use ZERO Kwh the bill is $30... plus there's 13% tax on power.

The biggest bill we've ever gotten here was the first winter (we moved in November 15th, completely unprepared for an uninsulated house) and the bill for January was $776...

We've been slowly improving the house and insulating, so it rarely gets above $400 a month now.

WOOF that bill is hard to take...LOL

glad it has gone down so much.


We are charged the same way----one pricee for 750 kwh and under and over 750 kwh it is a tad cheaper.

I love when a bunch of people say----run your dryer at night when the price is cheaper. LOL-----I don't go by that at all here.

I wish I had the daytime/nightime change in price. But it doesn't work that way for me either.


With the woodstove you went down only by 1000 kwh per month in cold times. WHAT is the rest of that electric use? I mean do you run something big that is not a normal household load? Just wondering cause it seems high to me?