How hot on water heater setting?

[Soundguy]

Your 118 / 120 issue is right on the edge.. probably fine for your dishwasher... besides.. I've notied that the longer the hot water runs.. the temp can go up a few degrees once you've warmed the piping up and all.

Safer that way anyway.. unless you really really want super hot water.

soundguy

OK, you fellers made me curious. I knew our water didn't get hot enough to hurt me and I like it that way, so I just now did some checking. We have a 50 gallon dual element electric Rheem water heater and, according to my thermometer, the water only gets to 118 degrees. The manual for our KitchenAid dishwasher does say that if your water temperature is less than 120 degrees to get a qualified person to raise the water heater's thermostat setting. And of course in the efficiency tips, the manual does say to run the water at the nearest faucet to get the hot water there before turning on the dishwasher.

Now I don't know about being "qualified", but I have adjusted water heater thermostats; however, Soundguy said "If you have kids or elderly . . ., the 'safe answer is to set the water temp lower than 'scald' level." I probably meet that "elderly" qualification. And as LBrown59 said, "We set it where we can comfortably wash our hands under the hot water faucet with out having to turn the cold water tap on." Yep, that's about where ours is set.

 

[rlk]

Temperature Time to Produce 2nd & 3rd Degree Burns on Adult Skin
160°F (71°C) About 1/2 second
150°F (66°C) About 1-1/2 seconds
140°F (60°C) Less than 5 seconds
130°F (54°C) About 30 seconds
120°F (49°C) More than 5 minutes
Source: A. O. Smith

Bob

 

[kenmac]

OK, you fellers made me curious. I knew our water didn't get hot enough to hurt me and I like it that way, so I just now did some checking. We have a 50 gallon dual element electric Rheem water heater and, according to my thermometer, the water only gets to 118 degrees. The manual for our KitchenAid dishwasher does say that if your water temperature is less than 120 degrees to get a qualified person to raise the water heater's thermostat setting. And of course in the efficiency tips, the manual does say to run the water at the nearest faucet to get the hot water there before turning on the dishwasher.

Now I don't know about being "qualified", but I have adjusted water heater thermostats; however, Soundguy said "If you have kids or elderly . . ., the 'safe answer is to set the water temp lower than 'scald' level." I probably meet that "elderly" qualification. And as LBrown59 said, "We set it where we can comfortably wash our hands under the hot water faucet with out having to turn the cold water tap on." Yep, that's about where ours is set.

120 deg. you should be at the factory setting as the factory setting is around 120

 

[reasley]

Good evening, Richard --

For years, we have had our electric water heaters set at the highest temperature. The key is the use of a water heater timer -- that way you can have very hot water when you need it, and you are not maintaining that temperature 24 hours a day. Lowe's or Home Depot will have them. They are around $50 and can be installed easily by an electrician or an accomplished DIYer. We set ours for twice daily -- about an hour before wake-up until leaving home and then from about 5 - 9 in the evenings. Saves money and provides longer showers, more showers per household, etc., etc.

Richard Easley

 

[dmccarty]

One issue I think is being on a well. I was going to get an in line heater (continuous?) but the guy at the plumbing place said it wouldn't work very well for me since they're only designed to raise the water temp a certain amount and with me on a well, he didn't think it would raise it enough.

(later I heard about putting two in line together??? but he never mentioned that and now it's essentially, too late)

We wanted an inline water heater. BUT we are on a well and only have electric. The inline heaters only heat the water a certain number of degrees. Electric heaters are limited in the number of degrees the can heat compared to gas heaters which can heat more water and a higher number of degrees.

What I wanted to do was to put in solar water heaters on the roof. The roof was designed to get the optimal sun exposure for our location. The preheated water could then go to the inline heater and if more heat was required the water temperature could be boosted. Hopefully no power would be needed.

But then we shuffled around the budget and solar water heating fell off the list. Part of the money issue was that at the time it did not make money sense to put in solar water heating. Today I'm not sure that this is true. The Feds have a tax incentive on solar.

We really wanted to have radiant flooring heated by the sun. But that looked like it would cost as much as the HVAC system and I could not justify spending the money. The portion of the mortgage for the radiant heating would have paid for quite a bit of power. Pretty much what we pay to power the entire house during most of the year.

Anywho, if we get the cash we are likey going to put in the solar water heaters since the last time I ran the numbers it made money sense. Not sure if we would keep the current water heater or going with instant. The instant water heaters also are much more expensive. We bought a 80 gallon tank for something like $400. The instant heaters where almost twice that amount. The heater we bought was the most effiecient one we could find but the best I can tell its cost $20-30 a month to run. That is a good 25-30% of our power use in the non summer months.

Later,
Dan