Electric water heater kwh

[mail4dea]

I have 3 year old 80 gallon water heater. Looking at the label it states estimated yearly energy use is 5392kwh.

Does that imply on daily basis the water heater uses 15kwh ?

My electric bills are through the roof and I have started trying to figure out if this water heater is the culprit!! Since I have been monitoring the HVAC refrigerator and other major appliance usage.

When I look at my electric utility bill...the app shows every time we take shower the kwh jumps from roughly 1.5kwh to 6-8 khw...this is the main reason I think the water heater is the hoggin a big chunk of our bill.

For reference the water heater is state water heater proline series installed in 2021. Model # EG6-80-DRRT 200

240 VOLTS/4500 AMPS

any inputs on how good this water heater is in terms of energy efficiency or energy hogging! Thanks for your feedback

 

[Greenman]

Electric water heaters use a lot of energy, it's the nature of the beast.
Your listed volts/amps are incorrect, there is no way on that thing draws 4500 amps. Perhaps you meant watts?

 

[mail4dea]

Electric water heaters use a lot of energy, it's the nature of the beast.
Your listed volts/amps are incorrect, there is no way on that thing draws 4500 amps. Perhaps you meant watts?

Yup ...you are right ..it's 4500 watts!! Sorry about that!!

 

[drnickriviera]

I used an energy logger on my 40g water heater. For 2 people I was using 7-8kwh/day. Time for navy showers!

 

[mindless1]

It has a (actually two but only one runs at a time) 4500W heating element(s) so completely normal and typical for it to raise the reading 4.5kWh.

It only does this long enough to get the amount of water used, back up to the preset temp, and keep it there (which uses much less, averaged out per hour).

There are several variables like incoming water temp, the temp you set it to heat to, and amount of hot water you use. A smaller heater can use a bit less power but if you run out of hot water or it takes too long to recover, it was too small.

The efficiency is going to be pretty similar to any other tanked electric water heater under the same variables/use-scenario mentioned above. Some use-scenarios can save around $50/year switching from electric tanked to electric tankless, particularly if not much hot water is used per day, but there is a significant cost to install tankless, and that's usually less than 10% saved of the total power consumption. You're still heating X amount of water you use to Y temperature.

If it were me, I'd ride it out with what you have because it's only 3 years old, and then when it fails, decide if it's time to go tankless. This assumes you don't have natural gas on premises which can be the cheaper option whether it be for a tanked or tankless heater.

You should notice a spike in power consumption when anything else with a large motor or heater kicks on, like if you have an electric stove, clothes dryer, and especially HVAC (depending on climate and HVAC system capacity, and of course, the max/min temps you set it to).

 

[Greenman]

It has a (actually two but only one runs at a time) 4500W heating element(s) so completely normal and typical for it to raise the reading 4.5kWh.

It only does this long enough to get the amount of water used, back up to the preset temp, and keep it there (which uses much less, averaged out per hour).

There are several variables like incoming water temp, the temp you set it to heat to, and amount of hot water you use. A smaller heater can use a bit less power but if you run out of hot water or it takes too long to recover, it was too small.

The efficiency is going to be pretty similar to any other tanked electric water heater under the same variables/use-scenario mentioned above. Some use-scenarios can save around $50/year switching from electric tanked to electric tankless, particularly if not much hot water is used per day, but there is a significant cost to install tankless, and that's usually less than 10% saved of the total power consumption. You're still heating X amount of water you use to Y temperature.

If it were me, I'd ride it out with what you have because it's only 3 years old, and then when it fails, decide if it's time to go tankless. This assumes you don't have natural gas on premises which can be the cheaper option whether it be for a tanked or tankless heater.

You should notice a spike in power consumption when anything else with a large motor or heater kicks on, like if you have an electric stove, clothes dryer, and especially HVAC (depending on climate and HVAC system capacity, and of course, the max/min temps you set it to).

Do the heat pump water heaters work acceptably? I've never seen one, but they seem to be gaining popularity.

 

[Greenman]

Another thing to consider is DIY solar water heating to boost the incoming water temperature. That's assuming you don't live in a frozen wasteland.

 

[mindless1]

Do the heat pump water heaters work acceptably? I've never seen one, but they seem to be gaining popularity.

I've never had one but understand them to be more custom designed depending on the site, whether air or ground heat extraction, more up front cost but the most efficient, depending on a few factors like if it's air based, and near freezing winters, and the furnace is electric, may not be a good idea.

This last variable is one we don't have. How is the house heated in winter and what climate? If the water heater is situated where the heat lost, ends up circulating in the home anyway, that's not much of a difference in heating cost, than if the HVAC system electric heat were making up the difference instead, but then the opposite is true in summer with the extra heat working against the HVAC while a heat pump can then assist the HVAC.

 

[WilliamM2]

I've never had one but understand them to be more custom designed depending on the site, whether air or ground heat extraction, more up front cost but the most efficient, depending on a few factors like if it's air based, and near freezing winters, and the furnace is electric, may not be a good idea.

This last variable is one we don't have. How is the house heated in winter and what climate? If the water heater is situated where the heat lost, ends up circulating in the home anyway, that's not much of a difference in heating cost, than if the HVAC system electric heat were making up the difference instead, but then the opposite is true in summer with the extra heat working against the HVAC while a heat pump can then assist the HVAC.

I think you have that backwards. The heat pump will throw off cold air. Making the AC work less in summer, and heater work more in winter. It's not a great deal of cold air though. And if it's in an unfinished basement, no big deal.
Should be made up by the savings in water heating.

 

[mindless1]

^ No I just didn't elaborate enough for you to realize what I meant. The contrast was that the electric, traditional non-heat-pump heater would produce heat in winter that assists the electric HVAC heater.

Unfinished basement can still count, if it produces heat there and heat rises. My unfinished basement temperature follows if not leads the temp in the rest of the house because the HVAC stack is located there.

 

[WilliamM2]

^ No I just didn't elaborate enough for you to realize what I meant. The contrast was that the electric, traditional non-heat-pump heater would produce heat in winter that assists the electric HVAC heater.

Unfinished basement can still count, if it produces heat there and heat rises. My unfinished basement temperature follows if not leads the temp in the rest of the house because the HVAC stack is located there.

Still a bit confused at your answer. Are you saying that your water heater raises the temp in your basement? I feel no heat at all from my conventional electric water heater, they are insulated fairly well. I have insulated the pipes as well.

Another advantage to a heat pump water heater is it will dehumidify the basement a bit as well, and cool the basement in summer. I may try one if I need to replace my water heater.

Will a Heat Pump Water Heater Freeze Your Basement? - Energy Vanguard

A new study shows the effect of putting a heat pump water heater in a basement in Michigan. The results may surprise you.

www.energyvanguard.com

I do wonder if it would make enough noise to bother me.

 

[mindless1]

^ You have insulated all the pipes in the walls, as well as the sewer lines? I mean on the inside of the pipes, so they can't absorb the heat at all? Insulated the sinks and showers as well? That's an exceptional (if not impossible) effort that most do not undertake.

Where do you suppose the heat goes if not into the premises, that water tanks are perfectly insulated, as are the pipes, so the heated water leaves the premises into the sewer at the temperature it was heated to?

Fuel or electricity is converted into heat. The radiation is simply spread out more. All the power to heat that water is dissipated *somewhere*.

 

[WilliamM2]

I don't have more than two feet of any pipe in the wall anywhere, single story ranch, the insulated pipes are in the basement, exept right below each simk. Insulate drains? That water (and heat) is leaving the building, rather quickly. It wil make no meaningful difference to heating or cooling.

But I thought we were talking about heat pumps, sorry, my mistake.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

It's all about mean dollar green. The buxs stop where?

Turn your KWhrs to dollars.

New water heaters or other devices can cost hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars in you have them installed.

How much is your 4500W heater costing you over a year? Two years? Five years?

How much power will the new device use and what will it cost you to run over those periods?

How long will it take you to recover the costs? That answer is different for every house.

If it dies and you have to replace it anyways that a different discussion than replacing a working one hoping to save money.

 

[mindless1]

^ It would almost certainly cost thousands of dollars to switch to a different type of water heater, though shopping around can make a very large difference in installation cost.

 

[Brovane]

Do the heat pump water heaters work acceptably? I've never seen one, but they seem to be gaining popularity.

I have Installed a Heat Pump water heater at my house a couple of months ago. It was a 80-gallon Rheem ProTerra water heater. I have a single story ranch style house. The Water Heater used to be located in a small closet in the center of the house and the new one is installed in the garage. I wanted it moved because a propane water heater is silent and a Heat pump water heater isn't and the closet was right outside our master. Also it would have been difficult to get a new circuit ran to that closet to support a heat pump water heater. It required a 30-amp 240v circuit to be ran which wasn't hard once it was in the garage near the main panel. It replaced a 15-year old Propane Water Heater. I have a Emporia Energy Monitor that allows me to monitor usage and for the month of July it used 78 kwh and August 88 kwh. We are a family of four. Almost all the time it uses the Heat Pump but has backup resistive heating. The only time I have ever seen it use the resistive heating was one time all four of us took back to back showers in the morning all within about 30-mins. When running the heat pump it puts out about 1/2 ton of cooling in the garage.

With the relocation from the center of the house to the garage I also had installed a hot water recirculation pump. This helps pre-charge the lines with hot water before someone needs. You get a 30% tax credit for installed a Heat Pump water heater up to $2k. I expect to get $2k back on my taxes because of the plumbing work to move the water heater, installation and the cost of the water heater itself. The water heater was $2500 from Home Depot.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Use some WC 3090 ti cards?

 

[Steltek]

I have Installed a Heat Pump water heater at my house a couple of months ago. It was a 80-gallon Rheem ProTerra water heater. I have a single story ranch style house. The Water Heater used to be located in a small closet in the center of the house and the new one is installed in the garage. I wanted it moved because a propane water heater is silent and a Heat pump water heater isn't and the closet was right outside our master. Also it would have been difficult to get a new circuit ran to that closet to support a heat pump water heater. It required a 30-amp 240v circuit to be ran which wasn't hard once it was in the garage near the main panel. It replaced a 15-year old Propane Water Heater. I have a Emporia Energy Monitor that allows me to monitor usage and for the month of July it used 78 kwh and August 88 kwh. We are a family of four. Almost all the time it uses the Heat Pump but has backup resistive heating. The only time I have ever seen it use the resistive heating was one time all four of us took back to back showers in the morning all within about 30-mins. When running the heat pump it puts out about 1/2 ton of cooling in the garage.

With the relocation from the center of the house to the garage I also had installed a hot water recirculation pump. This helps pre-charge the lines with hot water before someone needs. You get a 30% tax credit for installed a Heat Pump water heater up to $2k. I expect to get $2k back on my taxes because of the plumbing work to move the water heater, installation and the cost of the water heater itself. The water heater was $2500 from Home Depot.

Recirculation pumps also come with their own drawbacks. A few years ago, some neighbors a couple miles up the road from me had to spend thousands of dollars repiping their entire house because of a recirc pump. It worked fine for the first few years, then pinhole leaks started popping off everywhere in his water lines. The house was only like 7 years old at the time they started having problems - the pump literally wore out their water lines.

Apparently, the plumber who installed the pump didn't bother to share with his customers (or didn't himself know) that you shouldn't run them more than 5-6 hours a day.

I think their lawsuit against that plumber might still be ongoing (due to all the massive Covid delays in the courts). I'll have to remember to ask them next time i see them.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Been thinking of replacing my aging gas one with an electric one. Our gas rates doubled last year and per unit of energy actually going towards heating water, gas one is actually more expensive to run now as most of that energy goes outside through the chimney as they are not very efficient. You can get high efficiency gas ones though so that's also an option too but they are very expensive. Instead I'm thinking of going with a heat pump one. They too are expensive, like 3 grand, but at least I would be reliant only on hydro and not gas. Once I have the wood stove going it will essentially be "free" heat that gets put into the water. I have lot of work to do in the basement first before I even have room to get a water heater down there though.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

You will very quickly learn that wood is no where near free heat.

When considering all that goes into using it compared to what you get out of it, the cost is quite high.

I liked the type of dry heat and the ability to heat a pot of water and cook on it, but the labor to keep it running was very intensive. Getting up every two to four hours all night and day to feed it was the least of it.

I also found that some insurance companies wouldn't even quote with a wood stove.

 

[Greenman]

Recirculation pumps also come with their own drawbacks. A few years ago, some neighbors a couple miles up the road from me had to spend thousands of dollars repiping their entire house because of a recirc pump. It worked fine for the first few years, then pinhole leaks started popping off everywhere in his water lines. The house was only like 7 years old at the time they started having problems - the pump literally wore out their water lines.

Apparently, the plumber who installed the pump didn't bother to share with his customers (or didn't himself know) that you shouldn't run them more than 5-6 hours a day.

I think their lawsuit against that plumber might still be ongoing (due to all the massive Covid delays in the courts). I'll have to remember to ask them next time i see them.

I have never seen or heard of a recirculating pump causing supply line failure. It's a low volume extremely low pressure pump.

 

[Brovane]

Recirculation pumps also come with their own drawbacks. A few years ago, some neighbors a couple miles up the road from me had to spend thousands of dollars repiping their entire house because of a recirc pump. It worked fine for the first few years, then pinhole leaks started popping off everywhere in his water lines. The house was only like 7 years old at the time they started having problems - the pump literally wore out their water lines.

Apparently, the plumber who installed the pump didn't bother to share with his customers (or didn't himself know) that you shouldn't run them more than 5-6 hours a day.

I think their lawsuit against that plumber might still be ongoing (due to all the massive Covid delays in the courts). I'll have to remember to ask them next time i see them.

Thank you for the warning but we don't run it for hours at a time. I have it plugged into a Alexa controlled plug. I have a routine setup in Alexa. You say "Alexa, Hot Water" Alexa turns on the pump plug and then says back "15 Minutes" and then Alexa waits 15 minutes and then turns the pump plug off. We don't use the timer that is built into the actual pump itself to turn on during certain times of the day.

 

[IGBT]

I shut my electric WH off at night and turn it back on about an hour before I need the hot water..greatly lowered my electric bill...thinking of installing a timer on it so i don't have to cycle the breaker...

 

[spacejamz]

I shut my electric WH off at night and turn it back on about an hour before I need the hot water..greatly lowered my electric bill...thinking of installing a timer on it so i don't have to cycle the breaker...

I can add schedules to my Rheem WH...I take a shower before I go to bed so my schedule has the WH going to 120 (which is plenty hot for me from 9P-12A and is at 110 degrees the rest of the day...

Dang, OP said he uses over 7k kwh for his WH...Here is my usage for 2022 and 2023... granted just me in the house though so that probably makes a huge difference...

 

[spacejamz]

The estimated energy use on the label of my WH: