07-14-2008, 04:34 AM
It does NOT take more energy to heat up a cold tank than to keep it hot. It takes less energy. It is not the energy that you are paying for. It is the power demand (rate of energy per unit time) that is driving the cost. If you are noticing changes in your power bill because of this it is worth it to look at everything in your house with an eye towards demand. Do you run a 100 amp arc welder 5 minutes per month? WHOA, NELLIE! You just screwed yourself for the whole month. Go ahead and run the water heater any old time in that case. The dryer is also a big load. It would pay to ensure that the water heater and the dryer never come on at the same time.
It can get quite complicated. Large commercial users live and die by this stuff. The rest of us are only now coming to appreciate how demand affects the power bill because frankly the cost used to be so low we could just afford to be disdainful and ignorant of it.
It can get quite complicated. Large commercial users live and die by this stuff. The rest of us are only now coming to appreciate how demand affects the power bill because frankly the cost used to be so low we could just afford to be disdainful and ignorant of it.