It’s officially Autumn in Florida. How do I know? Because this past weekend I adjusted my hot water heater’s temperature gauge. For those of you that don’t know, I adjust my hot water heater’s temperature gauge seasonally. When the outside temperatures drop, I turn the gauge up and when we welcome back warmer temperatures, the gauge goes down. It’s little things like this, that helped contribute to my power costs only being $35 last month.
But back to the reason for the adjustment…
For a cold weather wimp like me, the mornings are chilly (in the mid 60’s…the 60’s you guys!). So I need my shower to have lots of hot water, unlike the summer time when I only need a bit of hot water. I opened up the hot water heater panel, adjusted the gauge and voila!, more hot water.
Perhaps you don’t know how most hot water heaters work and how this can save you money. The simple explanation is this: most hot water heater temperature gauges are set between 120°F-125°F. Your hot water heater, heats water to the set temperature, then the water cools a bit and the heater, heats it back up again. It does this all day long to ensure that the moment you want hot water, it is available. If you’re not using all of the hot water in your tank, then you can turn the temperature down to save money. That’s what I do in the summer, when I set the gauge to 100°F. But now I’m cold (in the 60’s, remember?), so I adjusted it up to 115°F and as it gets colder, I’ll adjust it up to 125°F.
Want to try it yourself? It’s easy! Grab your screwdriver and I’ll show you how.