How Do You Set The Temperature Settings On An Electric Water Heater?
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at
1:39 pm
Is the temperature window on the upper part of the heater corresponds to the higher temperature setting and the lower window on the lower part corresponds to the lower temperature setting? I have an old heater and all markings are gone except for the temp dial. I am just making sure I am doing this right. Also, what should be the optimum temperature difference to save on electricity? 5 degrees? 10 degrees difference?
Thanks for all the help and any tips you can give to converse energy for this summer.
Tagged with: Electric • Heater • Settings • Temperature • Water
Filed under: Home Repair
You can set both top and bottom temperature settings the same or the lower one higher than the top control. The lower setting only means that control turns off sooner If one of the temp controls should burn out, you still will maintain the set temp.. On a standard water heater there is only one control because of the safety factors and different gases used, with electrical controls when they burn out you’re without hot water until you replace the controls. Set the temp. where you won’t run out of hot water, doesn’t always have to be set at a high setting.
Depending on your thermostat you may be able to see a picture online of the dial with all the markings on it. You could use it as a guide to adjust temp.
Most water heaters have settings ranging from 100° to 155°. Most homes need no higher than 120° unless you have a dishwasher which needs 140° water for its efficiency. An energy-saving short cycle can save up to 25% of water heating energy costs.
Regular maintenance of your water heater helps save energy too. Sediment buildup on the bottom of the heater interferes with its efficiency. Drain a bucket of water from the bottom of the tank at least every three months by opening the plug and allow the water to run until clear - one or two buckets will do.
Insulating your water heater stops heat loss through the pipes and heater tank. Kits are available at hardware stores but, BE SURE TO CALL THE GAS COMPANY FOR SAFETY INFORMATION WHEN WRAPPING A GAS WATER HEATER.
HERE’S THE ANSWER:
Water heaters have a useful life of about seven years. Virtually ALL water heaters will fail within ten. Failure means that you will have a catastrophic leak of large volumes of hot water all over your floor, the ceiling if any below, the rugs, etc. etc. etc. And insurance will not cover it if it is out of the rateed age range. SO… rather than try to figure out how to adjust it… replace it. The temp range needs to be between abput 110 and 130 F. 140 for a dish machine.
Your statement of having two dials makes me wonder… These are called cut offs or limit dials… If you have high and low cut offs on a water heater you have either an antique or you are actually looking at your boiler (which heats your house) and may or may not have a “tankless” hot water heater system. The high and low cut offs then need to be adjusted according to the needs of the heating system. Home heat from forced hot water needs to be HOT so you’re going to run that system at something close to 180, give or take. There will be a balancing valve off the boiler to bring the domestic hot water back down to a useable temp. You can cut it back in the summer when the only draw is for domestic hot water.
Most thermostats increase clockwise decrease counterclockwise. The lowest temperature your comfortable with is the most energy efficient. Personally I like to be able to hold my hand under the hot water on full with no discomfort.
no you have two heating elements,they both have temperature settings, set the top and bottom settings to 125 degrees, make sure to shut the power off while doing this.the temperature recommended is 125 degrees.