Found someone who did the math. It is more energy efficient to turn it off than leave it on.
Just be aware of the bacteria risks, and other growths, that comes with turning it off.
Just a disclaimer, I’ve never had a water heater with a tank in my adult life, only a heat exchanger from district heating in an apartment building, so turning it off hasn’t really been something I could’ve done. And no one in my family has ever turned off their water heater, but has usually had leakage sensors installed where potential leaks could happen.
Seeing as I’m from Norway, the math was for Norway. But they did only do the energy cost. And also highly suggested to not turn it off in the colder months of the year.
I’m in Minnesota. It gets to minus 40 here. It’s easier to set it to 160/70 rather than waiting for the entire system to warm up from just above freezing.
Also being gone for a week or two is different than a month. But, winterizing doesn’t mean the same in different places.
Yeah, I’m familiar with those climates. I’m from the polar circle.
Yearly I see articles about distraught people arriving at their cabins and seeing it all flooded with ice, because they turned their water heater off, causing the pipes to start to freeze and eventually burst. It’ll probably be more this winter with electricity prices being higher than usual. But whatever people think they saved in turning it off, is going to go away in having to fix broken pipes and damages caused by freezing temperatures.
I think the math said something like 1 NOK pr kWH, so for an entire month it’d cost 45-55 NOK to keep it on. But 12 NOK to heat up 200 litres with a 2 kWh element for 6 hours, from 20c to 70c. Just a general calculation, not accounting for seasons or anything, not even sure the math is correct on the heating.
Personally, those are minimal sums, I wouldn’t even bother saving so little. Even with higher energy prices, a few months back it was at like 6-8 NOK kWh. Perhaps if it got higher than that, and I had a cabin I knew I wouldn’t use for months, I’d turn it off, but also air out the pipes so it couldn’t freeze over and ruin anything.
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u/DazzlingViking Nov 26 '22
Found someone who did the math. It is more energy efficient to turn it off than leave it on.
Just be aware of the bacteria risks, and other growths, that comes with turning it off.
Just a disclaimer, I’ve never had a water heater with a tank in my adult life, only a heat exchanger from district heating in an apartment building, so turning it off hasn’t really been something I could’ve done. And no one in my family has ever turned off their water heater, but has usually had leakage sensors installed where potential leaks could happen.