I have a 40 gallon electric water heater in my shop, supposedly 4500x2 watts, but that's at 240v, and I'm on 208v, so it's in the 3000w range. There's a big sticker on the side that says it uses $414/year in an "average" household, but that was 10+ years ago and my shop isn't a house.
Anyway the heater can sit frequently for days at a time not getting used. Even when it does get used it's only a little bit to wash my hands or something. I don't want to spend $400+ per year for this thing. I also don't want to turn the temp down too far because I use HOT water occassionally to clean parts.
I'm thinking about putting it on a timer, so it only turns on when I'm probably there. But the question is, how much power does a standard electric water heater use in "standby" mode? I mean, once it comes up to temp and turns off, how long will it stay warm in a ~60 degree room? I'm sure there's plenty of variables, but roughly how often does it kick on? Every hour? 6 hours? 12 hours?
Additionally, I wonder if I can upgrade the heating elements to something with more wattage, maybe one that actually does 4500w on 208v? This way I could simply turn off the breaker when I leave and back on when I get there, for a quicker warm up.
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