Are there timers for gas water heaters?

Answer 1

Is there a particular reason why?

Natural gas water heaters are really efficient.

They kick on at night, a lot less than electrics water heaters, when keeping the water hot for use.

Anyway, the thermostat probe is inside the tank, and the safety works on millivolts. You don't want to fool with the thermocouple and the solinoid, because you'd have the relight each time you need hot water.
There is no real way to put it on a timer.

Answer 2

A regular gas water heater doesn't use any electricity, but a power vent gas water heater such as the one you have does use electricity. However the amount of electricity used is much smaller, in terms of cost or energy consumed, than the natural gas that gets used to heat your water. Putting a timer on the heater may save you energy and money. I did it 17 years ago on my gas-only heater (not powervent). I had a complicated mechanism involving a vice grips attached to the temperature control, a bungee cord for a spring, a set of eye hooks, and kite string running from the basement all the way to our second floor bedroom, so that I could turn the heater on remotely when the alarm went off at 6am. By 6:20 or so, the water was hot enough to take a shower, at which point we turned it off, and it was reasonably warm the rest of the day - warm enough for dishes, but not hot enough for a bath. This trick definitely cut our gas costs. I think we saved $5 or $10 a month by doing this, and this was in about 1991. There are three concerns with doing this: - According to the Canadian government not adequately heating your hot water puts you at risk of Legionnaire's disease getting into the tank. I don't know why this would be so, but I have read it on several occasions. I don't worry much about this, I think the water supply where I live is very dependable. - For a powervent gas water heater, I am assuming that the electric timer would prevent both the power vent and the gas combustion from taking place. Obviously, if the timer causes the power vent not to run but the gas combustion does take place, you could have serious problems with overheating of the exhaust system (that's why it's power vented - to get the heat out quickly). So you would be taking a risk there. - One thing I remember, that may or may not have been because of my rigged-up efficiency system, is that the bottom of our water heater rusted out a few months after we switched to this system. I suspect the heater was old to begin with, but I also suspect that constant warming and cooling of the tank, because of my contraption, caused condensation on the bottom of the tank during the cooling phase which then caused rust to corrode the tank. It doesn't really save you anything in the long run if an energy efficiency action destroys the appliance you're trying to save energy on!

Answer 3

Spend $400 to get a tankless water heater. the only draw back is that you can only run one appliance at a time. That means you can wash clothes in hot water, or you can run the dishwasher, or take a shower. Which when you think about it isn't too different from what most people do now. But the advantage is that you don't have to wait for the hot water to recover after its been used. The best advantage is that showers can actually be an hour or two long if wanted.

Answer 4

You could do this, but it would take a little effort. What you would have to do is set up an electric timer to energize and de-energize a gas solenoid valve. I don't know of any commercial setup that you can buy off the shelf.

You may have a problem if your water heater has a standing pilot. If this is the case, you would have to relight the pilot every time it closes the gas valve. If you have an electronic ignitor on your water heater, then you would be ok.

Answer 5

No. Gas water heater relys on a thermocouple that measures the temperature inside and turns on the heat to keep it within the set range that you have set by the outside control.(Warm, Med, Hot) or (marked in Numbers (degreesF.) Most times replacing the thermocouple will fix it.

Answer 6

saw them on ebay last year.
to save gas,tank must be left cold.

turn up heater 1 hour prior to use.
turn down heater prior to use so heated water is replaced by cold water & not reheated.
cold tank minimizes standby heat loss when hot water is not needed.

Answer 7

I'm not sure why you would want to do this. But a tankless water heater might suit you better than a tank type.

Answer 8

Check Grainger.

Answer 9

I'm going to watch this question myself, I was just wonder too, thanks for asking.