We're economy 7, our water heater is too large & energy is being wasted- do we consider fitting a supplimentary timer to reduce the hours the power is on?
Answer
We're economy 7, our water heater is too large & energy is being wasted- do we consider fitting a supplimentary timer to reduce the hours the power is on?
I live in an all electric apartment that has qan Economy 7 electricity supply
We have a Gledhill water heater with an internal heat exchanger which is far too larger for our use and I am looking at ways to uce the high cost of heating too much water that we never use.
I have consider fitting a supplimentary timer to the water heater supply to reduce the hours the power is on.
I would like youur views on this possible modification and any other ideas that I can use to save money.
My wife and I are both 86 so we do not think a complete rebuild is worth condering.
Thank you
Best answer by Firedog
Updated on 12/06/25 by Abby_OVO
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Thanks for the ping, ​@Chris_OVOÂ
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Do you happen to have any photos of your setup that you could share?  Â
What energy-saving measures might be appropriate depend a great deal on what sort of water tank and heating system is installed, so photos of the water heater controls as well as of the electricity meter would be very helpful. Gledhill produce a bewildering variety of hot water tanks for various purposes, so knowing which one ​@oldun has will be vital. The labels on it should indicate how big it is; unless the couple are in the habit of taking long hot deep baths every day, the chances are that money is indeed being wasted on keeping too much water too hot for too long.
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It would be good to know how the apartment is heated - no. and types of heaters and how they’re controlled.
Chances are that should be fairly easy for most electricians to do. The secondary timer would be incapable of powering the heater unless the meter is allowing the circuit to run anyway, so it shouldn’t cause your bills to increase unnecessarily. That’s probably your easiest option IIRC.
I’m going to tag ​@Firedog for some advice on this one to see what we can come up with. I can see ​@Blastoise186 has already offered some advice above also. Do you happen to have any photos of your setup that you could share?Â
Do you happen to have any photos of your setup that you could share?  Â
What energy-saving measures might be appropriate depend a great deal on what sort of water tank and heating system is installed, so photos of the water heater controls as well as of the electricity meter would be very helpful. Gledhill produce a bewildering variety of hot water tanks for various purposes, so knowing which one ​@oldun has will be vital. The labels on it should indicate how big it is; unless the couple are in the habit of taking long hot deep baths every day, the chances are that money is indeed being wasted on keeping too much water too hot for too long.
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It would be good to know how the apartment is heated - no. and types of heaters and how they’re controlled.
Just checking in with you to see if you’ve managed to read the advice from ​@Firedog above?Â
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If you need some help uploading photo’s to this post then if you can email them to forum@ovoenergy.com. I can keep an eye out and upload them when they arrive 😊
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