Off peak hot water vs infinity hot water system?

LChodas on 16/10/2017 - 14:59
Last edited 16/10/2017 - 16:33 by 1 other user

I bought a house earlier this year and it has a 300L hot water tank which is way too big for our 2 person household. When we received our electricity bill it came in at over $600 and we were understandably shocked. I've been looking into it and it seems that the issue is our hot water system so I think I have 2 options

  1. Get a level 2 electrician to install an off peak meter - $600+ cost
  2. Get rid of the 300L tank and install an instant hot water system - ~$1000

Does anyone have any insight into this situation or any experience making this decision yourselves? They seem to be around the same price

Cheers!

Poll Options

  • 8
    Get off peak installed
  • 13
    Get an instant hot water system
Home & Garden

Comments

  • narbe on 16/10/2017 - 15:34

    get offpeak and turn down the temp to 60 deg

  • Cheap Charlie on 16/10/2017 - 16:10

    Is the HWS a conventional element heated unit or a Heat Pump model?
    As Narbe suggests, turn the temp down on the thermostat in the interim.

    • Chodas on 16/10/2017 - 16:36

      I'm not sure of the type but I can check when I get home. Why turn the temp down? does that help with does that make a big difference in power consumption?

      • Euphemistic on 16/10/2017 - 16:50

        Can you confirm the HWS is costing you heaps in electricity? Or is your total bill up because of other reasons?

        The more you heat up the water the more it costs. Turn it down a smidge and you dont need as much electricity, just don't turn it down too much there is a min recommended temp for a hot water service to keep it running properly (or is it so bacteria doesn't form)

        How old is your HWS? 300L is probably OK if it runs on off peak, they don't cost that much to run on off peak typically. I think ours was like $35 per quarter last time I checked.

        Instantaneous will be gas, gas prices are predicted to rise.

        • Chodas on 16/10/2017 - 17:40

          I can't confirm that it's the hot water system that's the reason for the high bill but I'm suspecting that having it heat up 300L throughout the day is costing us quite a bit more than heating it up at night would cost. I'd say the system is 15-20 years old

        • Euphemistic on 17/10/2017 - 07:15

          @Chodas: are you sure your hot water is heating through the day? I'd be surprised if any storage hot water service was hooked up to run anything other than off peak, the whole idea of storage got water is to heat it when the power is cheaper. Unless your tank was tiny, then you might want to 'top up' the temp every time you use some water.

          Double check you HWS.

          Do you have a smart meter, or an old school dial. If it is a dial, there should be two to be running off peak. If it is a 'smart' style, there is only one meter, but different read outs on the display for each mode.

      • Cheap Charlie on 16/10/2017 - 17:10

        In the event your HWS is not a heat pump unit, without off peak it will effectively heat the water anytime the water temp falls below the temp set on the thermostat.
        When you use hot water, in most cases you also turn the cold water on to reduce the temperature.
        Somewhat counter productive right?

        Heat Pump HWS usually do not have off peak, as they are most efficient during the warmest part of the day.
        As such, if you have a heat pump HWS, Offpeak may be counter productive also.

        Instant HW sounds like a good solution in theory, however gas prices are increasing which will also effect your cost to run.

        • Chodas on 16/10/2017 - 17:41

          Thanks for the info, that's really interesting and I had no idea! Do you know how to check which type of system it is?

          Is there electric instant hot water, or is it just gas?

        • Cheap Charlie on 16/10/2017 - 17:56

          @Chodas:

          A Heat Pump HWS has a little section on top with a fan or a little unit attached that looks like the outdoor section of a split system air con. It basically works like air con, but in reverse. http://www.naturecoastplumbing.com.au/images/large/heat_pump…
          Basically it uses the heat in the air to warm the water. Most units will also have a electric heating element which is used when the heat pump is unable to heat the water sufficiently.
          Heat Pump HWS are common in new homes, along with things such as insulation to satisfy energy reduction mandates.

          I am not across instant hot water systems.
          I went away from gas appliances in the home years ago.

          You may also wish to consider Solar Power early in your home ownership.
          Energy prices are only going to keep increasing.

  • dassaur on 16/10/2017 - 17:12

    Our system is controlled load (i.e. off peak) hot water, 300L tank. I reckon it looks like a mid-90s install. For the 3 of us (2 adults, 1 baby) we use 800kw/h for the hot water system alone, which is more than we use for all other electricity combined. Costs about $100/quarter with the recent price rise.

    • Chodas on 16/10/2017 - 17:44

      Thanks for that, yours seems really comparable. How much is your total bill for the quarter roughly? Maybe mines normal?

      • dassaur on 16/10/2017 - 19:59

        Entire bill is $430 for the quarter that just finished. NSW. Used 740 KWH for normal electricity use.

    • kipps on 03/11/2017 - 20:42

      I would keep a close eye on that system. I thought getting 10 years out of a system was good. Have you checked it for leaks and damage? When ours started leaking & needing replacement our hot water bills went though the roof.

  • Slippery Fish on 16/10/2017 - 17:19

    Lol totally illigal but the last place I lived they had hot water plugged into a power socket, I put it on a 1hr off-peak timer (from bunnings) the power use with me in the unit was less then without me and the landlord decided the rent would include power as she didn't want to spend 150 plus an electrician to install a seperate master for my unit (was a unit in the backyard sorta thing)

    • Chodas on 16/10/2017 - 17:44

      Haha I love this!

  • onetrickpony on 16/10/2017 - 18:49

    I'm with Narbe on this. Ive a 250l offpeak system, and run the thermostat at 60. Two people in the house, a big bath, and have never ran out of hot water. The bill is around 100 - 120 a quarter, but I love a long bath, and with my waterproof Z3 tablet, I can OzB happily in the bath.

  • Sunshines bright on 16/10/2017 - 20:14

    Sort of new to Australia system(s) but I am sure we called the electric company and was able to get the hot water on off peak via the phoneat our old house. Not sure if it was because of how it was set up at the house but we did not need to call anyone to come add anything to the meter.

    Then we moved house and our meter had a separate meter bit for the hot water and we were able to do off peak here too. But a few months later we purchased a solar system for the new house and this time the electrician installing the solar was able to put something on the hot water power line to the meter that acts as a timer so that power only goes on for the hot water during peak sunshine time now. He charged us I think only around $100.00 to $200.00 I think. This timer I can manually change should our needs increase.

  • kipps on 16/10/2017 - 22:49

    Option 3 - install solar panels, and power hot water in sunny hours, and reduce bills overall. It will cost more upfront but will give Bette returns then options 1&2 over the long term.

  • Euphemistic on 17/10/2017 - 07:09

    Option 4: solar hot water service.

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