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Old 01-16-11, 01:09 AM   #8
Piwoslaw
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Quote:
Originally Posted by strider3700 View Post
Basically I'm saying I don't want to spend anything on it now.
Would you be willing to spend a few $ on a timer, like Ryland proposed? Set it so the tank turns off when you take your last shower and turns on when you wake up. In fact, the last shower can be taken after the heat goes off - you use some of the hot water before it loses heat, then the tank has cooler water over the night, which means slightly less heat lost. Same during the day. You could lose 4-6 'spikes' per day, replaced 1-2 by slightly larger spikes when the tank starts heating again. In case of emergency you'll have hot water within a few minutes of manually turning it on. And once you replace it with a solar set up, the timer can be reused in other projects.
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