"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
news
On Thu, 10 Mar 2016 19:25:29 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:


All but one of my light bulbs (75w pump house warmth) is either CFL
or
LED. My electric bill is $40/mo, and I have a new timer for the
electric water heater. Once I get the new solar panels installed,
I'll also have a 24v 900w element going into that water heater,
replacing one of the two 240vac energy suckers. The timer will come
on for one hour, if necessary, each day before I get up. I'm not
going to feed the grid because that means I'd have to get a net
meter.

I simply disconnected the lower heater element so the bottom water
warms from ground to basement temperature by wood heat. The top
element operates normally from the grid, and the sink spray hose in my
shower reduces water use enough by shutting off when released for the
heater to keep up.

The wood stove heats laundry or dish water as hot as needed. One of
the thermocouple channels displayed upstairs is dedicated to water or
food temperature, with a new Inconel probe because I don't know the
previous use of the second-hand probes.

Doesn't Oregon have some regulation on how hot the water should be?
Mine runs 115~120F as the thermostat cycles.

The lower heater's thermostat is maxed out. I switch it back on when
an ice storm threatens to provide for several hot showers after the
hard work of storm cleanup. This also sterilizes the tank at least
once a year although I'm on treated town water.

--jsw