BlightyBoy

In the UK everywhere I ever lived had separate controls for heating and hot water. Here in the USA I find that I can control my oil powered heat but cannot control the water heating short of shutting down the whole boiler. When I've spoken to others about the oil needlessly wasting when I hear my boiler go on in the middle of the night they give me a funny look and say that it's costing hardly anything. I'm thinking that this was either the idea of oil companys or oil was once so cheap that at one time the cost was nothing. These days with oil prices rising I'm sure it is substantial especially as you think that all over the country oil is burning needlessly during the night.
Can you control the hot water in your home?

Ikke

Something I could never understand in the UK is why people turn the boiler on and off - surely it costs far more to heat a whole tank from cold than it does to just keep topping up the heat as needed?.

Rete

You can reset the thermostat so that the temperature of the water is lower thus allowing the boiler to remain inactive for longer periods of time. I doubt that a gas boiler is ever completely off as your post suggests.

Pimpbot

Here in the summer, all the water coming out of the tap is warm!.

Manc

with the oppressive heat you guys get I'm surprised it doesn't just steam out of the taps.

fatbrit

It's a dry heat!

Now a humid heat, that's oppressive!

Manc

wet or dry

120F is hot.

cabritpop

Our water heater is gas and we have a combined heating/ air con unit (electric) I don't think many people worry about it as long as the water is hot coming out of the tap. anyway I have been hearing about these japanese tankless water heaters and I see the company's trucks quite often installing them. they may be the next big thing in water heating as they heat 'on demand' sounds like you need one.

here is the companyhttp://www.noritzamerica.com/

Ray

The Same though is here in Florida ..the electric hot water tanks all run permanently ... I fitted a clock into ours and is now on just 4 hours a day not 24 and the savings are quite substantial ... in the UK ...it is cheaper to shut down and re-heat ..particularly in a cold time ...

Pimpbot

Hot is hot. But the 90 degree temps here this week felt way better than 80 degree 100% humidity days back in Blighty.

BlightyBoy

Our heating is oil as it seems to be for most people in New England.

Pulaski

Without going into an extensive phsics lecture, the hotter a tank of water is the quicker it gets cold i.e. the more heat it loses.

Suppose that the water is say 140º and loses 5º in an hour, at the end of the hour you'd have to heat it 5º again. After five hours you'd have gone through the cycle five times, and heated the water 25º.

Now suppose you let it cool over five hours. In the first hour it would still lose 5º, in the second it is already cooler, and only loses 4º, in the third, 3º, in the fourth 2½º, and in the fifth hour it only loses 2º. At the end of five hours it has cooled by 16½º, which is how much you have to heat it to get it back to 140º.

That is why it would be more efficient to let it cool overnight, and then have it come on an hour before you rise in the morning.

bionomique

Does this apply to bodies as well?

Guelder Rose

Strange ... when I was hard up I tried both methods and found that it was cheaper to keep the water on 24/7. I think it depends more on your lifestyle ... i.e. if you live alone and are out all day then it's probably cheaper to shut down and re-heat.

When I wasn't hard up anymore I got a combi boiler fitted ... is it right that they are relatively new here in the US?

Ikke

OK understood (I think ) BUT as electricity is cheaper overnight most people heat it at night and let it cool during the day so by the evening they have cold water. Suppose that's why they have those silly electric showers which dribble out a little warm water.