How to Adjust Your Hot Water Timer.
Now that the weather is cooling off, inevitably we all enjoy longer, hotter showers, and an increase in hot water use.
If you have an electric hot water system with a timer set to heat the water during daytime with your solar, this email will explain how to adjust it, if required.
Your Timer and Contactor.
The EH011 is the battery backed timer, and the ESC125 is a contactor (like a heavy duty switch), the contactor is fitted to prolong the life of the timer.
We set the timer to heat from 9-10am until 2-3pm which is enough for most homes.
However you may have noticed in the past few days, the water is no so hot first thing in the morning.
This is because in winter hot water usage goes up and more heating time is required.
There are two ways to achieve this:
ONE – simplest and easiest
1. Flick the small grey switch from “Auto” down to “I”
2. This will heat the water from grid at all times.
3. You will lose the benefit of the free solar heating, but you will have plenty of hot water at all times.
4. Just remember to flick the switch back up when this cold snap is over.
TWO – this requires a bit more work but will continue to maximize the free solar heating during daytime
Add an overnight boost by following these instructions:
1. Roll the grey dial upwards only, till say 2am
2. Push the small grey notches to the left so they line up with the “I” instead of the “O” – this turns on the heating
3. Allow say 1-2hr of overnight boost (remember this power will come from the grid and you pay full price for it)
4. Return the grey dial so the present time points to the right-pointing arrow, remember rolling the dial up only.
When winter / cold snap is over you can follow the same procedure to turn the boost off again by taking the 2am boost period away by pushing notches back to the “O”.
https://youtu.be/ikC60uPy_I8
A reminder how it works.
On this screen shot of a day’s solar generation / consumption you can see the blue square load running in the morning. This is the hot water tank drawing energy while the sun is up, and turning off by itself via the thermostat.
Please note: if you have the normal timer and contactor setup described in this message, the hot water tank will heat up daily, rain hail or shine, it is not dependent on the sun being out!
