Hi All,
I live in a small home with one other person. We shower once maybe twice a day. my hot water is set at 140 degrees, but I lowered it to around 130 as I feel it is too hot and wasting money. Am i right in turning it down some or should I leave it at the original setting of 140.
What is the norm? I believe it is a 40 galon tank.
You will save money and the water heater will usually last longer the lower you set the temperature. The only downside is under a high demand, it may not be able to keep up. Experience will tell. Also note that some dishwashers and maybe laundry done with hot water may also suffer at the lower temperature.
Greetings,
If you are interested in saving the most money turn the water heater down to the temperature you like to take your shower at. When you step in you should only have to turn the hot knob. If you don't run out of water the water heater is at the right temperature. If you do run out of water increase the water temperature until you are not in danger of running out.
Hope this helps,
William
PS: Some people need hot water for reasons other than showing. If so your water temperature must be at least hot enough to accomplish these other tasks.
How hot should it be if I also have a brand new dishwasher?
If you have an automatic dishwasher , it will require 130 f for dishes to come out reasonably clean. For showering, most people only require
110-115 f . Manufacturers of Electric water heaters used to set them at 140 f from the factory...but, they obviously got too many Law Suits from tender skin being burned. Now, there is usually a warning label on the outside that says 'anything over 125 f. can cause severe burns' , thus, they are coming preset at 125 f from the factory. IF you lower the water temp to 125 f. , that should be plenty ....but youll have to allow some recovery time between showers/baths/laundry..as electric water heaters are slow recovery units (versus gas ones).Most dishwashers heat up water themselves, well mine does. I set water temp for a hot water use only shower, apx 105. Turn it down then up if you need to. For me electricity costs 3 times the price of Gas.
Dave at the shower head out put 115 is to hot. I DARE you to take a
115F shower... A hot shower is 104-107 I can not stand 108. But maybe you dont heat your house so 115 is helping you.
Chances are that NEW dishwasher (anything in the last 10 years) should have a built in heater to bring the water up to the 140º F.
Any new water heater you buy today is factory set at 125 deg
Bob P
Thanks Bob!!
Anything above 120 F is good. Below that and you risk pathogen growth. I keep mine at 125--saves energy and the tank will last a little longer.
'Dave at the shower head out put 115 is to hot. I DARE you to take a
115F shower... A hot shower is 104-107 I can not stand 108. But maybe you dont heat your house so 115 is helping you.'Rans, Im aware that 100-105 f shower water is ideal, but, i suggested going a bit higher on the Tank temp. so the person can finish the shower without running out of hot water if its only a 40 gal . Yes, i heat my house here in Northern Illinois and that comment of yours was not required or efficacous -- shall we be friends ?
Dave you pos uneducated fundy hvac HACK!!
No one wants to be you friend, unless you mean in that in a Michael Jackson way
Greetings,
Why doesn't it occur in cold water systems? Is this only a problem if you are not on a chlorinated water system? Could you provide a link to more information about this risk of pathogen growth?
Thank you for your time and energy, William
PS: Doobielicious, to the best of my knowledge I have never had any issue with pathogen growth in city water of any temperature.
Just to be sure we are all on the same track ================================= pathogen n : any ***disease-producing*** agent (especially a virus or bacterium or other microorganism)
(if it doesn't cause disease it isn't a pathogen)
HA HA HA HA HA!
I'm not the one who brought it up, but we are talking about real pathogens here, as in Legionnaire's disease.
A starting point would be
Or Google for "domestic hot water" and "Legionnaire's disease."
It looks like an emerging recommendation is to keep your WH at 140F and have mixing valves to bring it down to 120 or 115 or so, either as it emerges from the WH or at points of use.
Chip C
Greetings,
Since you must set the water tank temp at 145+ to prevent Legionella I think I'll instead keep my home tank set to the temperature I like to take a shower (using only the hot water knob.) I am sure if I set all my hot water tanks at 145+ I would surely end up in court considering some would be as hot as 150.
The original posting spoke of a pathogen that required 120 degree water to kill. Is there a real risk of such a pathogen? Does the pathogen mentioned in the posting exist?
Hope this helps, William
PS: Chip, thank you very much for the > > Greetings,
Legonella in a hot water heater, Never heard of that. Legonella needs air to survive.
Joe M if he may experiance problems than what about roof and city water storage tanks holding thousands of gallons. This is common throughout the world. Then you must include piping. Or is it different.
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