Hot water - constant or timed?

oldMcDonald

More replies that I thought I would get, thank you

There are 7 of us in our household, 2 adults and 5 kids. One of our children is disabled and we have a wet room with an electric shower for him. We all tend to use this for our (quick!) showers, rather than have baths. Our washing machine is usually run on a cold wash, and the dishwasher cold fills. The main time that hot water is used is if someone decides to have a bath (this will be once or twice a week on average), or for washing hands. The kids always use the hot tap to wash their hands even though they are washing them in cold water and usually turn the tap off before the hot water comes through.

Looking at the above, and looking at the advice given, it would probably be cheaper for me to use the timer facility once or twice a week, when a bath is wanted, rather than have the water turned on all the time?

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

The most significant savings are incurred by reducing the temperature to which the water is heated, to the minimum acceptable level.

Our hot water is set to 60, DH is quite convinced that he read somewhere that it should never be set below this amount - I have no idea why and he cannot remember what the reason was either, but he has this idea and it causes many 'discussions' I find this temp far too hot.

Thanks again for any advice

Christabel

My hubby has come up with a brainwave. Because there are only two of us at home, why heat a whole tank of water for two morning showers and a bit of washing up? So he is going to install a new thermostat nearer the top of the tank and it should then just heat enough water for our use. He will leave the lower thermostat in case we need more water if we have visitors for instance. I think he intends to put switches on so we can choose which thermostat we use but don't quote me on that. Anyway, a brilliant idea if it works.

What do you all think?

jblack_2

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

Jblack

Your posts do not make sense.

Ok, I think we'll have to agree to disagree.

oldMcDonald wrote: »

More replies that I thought I would get, thank you

There are 7 of us in our household, 2 adults and 5 kids. One of our children is disabled and we have a wet room with an electric shower for him. We all tend to use this for our (quick!) showers, rather than have baths. Our washing machine is usually run on a cold wash, and the dishwasher cold fills. The main time that hot water is used is if someone decides to have a bath (this will be once or twice a week on average), or for washing hands. The kids always use the hot tap to wash their hands even though they are washing them in cold water and usually turn the tap off before the hot water comes through.

Looking at the above, and looking at the advice given, it would probably be cheaper for me to use the timer facility once or twice a week, when a bath is wanted, rather than have the water turned on all the time?

Our hot water is set to 60, DH is quite convinced that he read somewhere that it should never be set below this amount - I have no idea why and he cannot remember what the reason was either, but he has this idea and it causes many 'discussions' I find this temp far too hot.

Thanks again for any advice

If it's just a couple of times a week that you need hot water then yes, it would be cheaper to just flick the switch on to constant when you need it and off when you don't.

Your other half may be thinking of Legionellae when he says 60 degrees. The hotter the water the less danger of infection. At 60 they die quicker. 20-50 they can multiply.

J

TimBuckTeeth

oldMcDonald wrote: »

More replies that I thought I would get, thank you

There are 7 of us in our household, 2 adults and 5 kids. One of our children is disabled and we have a wet room with an electric shower for him. We all tend to use this for our (quick!) showers, rather than have baths. Our washing machine is usually run on a cold wash, and the dishwasher cold fills. The main time that hot water is used is if someone decides to have a bath (this will be once or twice a week on average), or for washing hands. The kids always use the hot tap to wash their hands even though they are washing them in cold water and usually turn the tap off before the hot water comes through.

Looking at the above, and looking at the advice given, it would probably be cheaper for me to use the timer facility once or twice a week, when a bath is wanted, rather than have the water turned on all the time?

Our hot water is set to 60, DH is quite convinced that he read somewhere that it should never be set below this amount - I have no idea why and he cannot remember what the reason was either, but he has this idea and it causes many 'discussions' I find this temp far too hot.

Thanks again for any advice

Yes, definately cheaper to just heat up the tank once or twice a week. If you switch off the water heating before you finish using the hot water, so that you aim to end up with a cold tank then that will be the cheapest, otherwise the heat will be wasted as it will not stay hot for a couple of days.

You are correct the thermostat should be set to 60C to prevent bacterial growth in the system (as mentioned above legionnaires' disease is one of the most serious) :
http://www.iphe.org.uk/health/legionnaires.html
60C is too hot for use straight from the tap, but since it requires to be mixed with cold water allows more than one bath from a tank full. You can get plumbed-in under the sink mixers / temperature regulators that provide comfortable warm water or even a standard mixer tap.
http://www.rwc.co.uk/product.aspx?page=CAT1
http://www.screwfix.com/prods/12024/Plumbing/Brassware/Thermostatic-Mixing-Valve-15mm

oldMcDonald

Thank you, again.

Your advice has been very helpful and appreciated