My water heater timer story

Around Houston, many water heaters are located in the attic. I knew the sharp mechanical guys were putting box-type timers up in the attic. But I didn't want to crawl in the attic to make changes. I wanted something easy and attractive.

That’s when I came up with a plan! Put a timer/switch on the wall within easy reach. Every home in America could use a timer on the wall.

Before installing a timer, I discussed the idea with my wife. She was against it. Women > who can figure? But she is like most Americans. We are accustomed to always-ready convenience.

So, I waited … and quietly turned off the hot water valve to the washing machine without telling her.

A few months later, I brought up the timer idea again. That’s when I told her that the washing machine had no hot water. She was surprised.

To make the story short: we don’t need hot water to wash clothes every time. And we don’t need hot water for the dishwasher since it has a built-in heater.

We only need hot water for brief periods each day, and we could predict when those times were going to be.

So we changed our thinking. 

I put in a countdown timer. Now we turn-on the water heater when we need it: 10-20 minutes to wash up; 20-30 minutes for a shower; 40-60 minutes for a bath.

The timer saves about $20 each month. That's $240 a year, which is 8% of my yearly bill, which is equal to getting one month of free electricity each year > every year from now on. No electric service provider offers that.

In addition, our water heater will last longer. Plus our timer saves the environment slightly. And over time, the difference adds up, especially when the price of electricity spirals up. Just imagine if everybody was doing the same thing.