hot water heat system - off again on again

[millenniumplus]

Recently my plumber suggested we turn off our hot water heat system when we close. Then, in the May issue
of "The Journal" a Hamilton tech article posed somewhat the same thing. Our hot water heat system would be
off approx 10hrs per day 7 days a week. We have a dual motor continuous hot water Hamilton system that is
3 years old. There would no problem with cold starting up the system in cold weather because we are in a hot
weather climate area. Question, is there anyone out there doing this and how much percent wish are you saving?
Is there any downside to this that anyone is aware of? Thanks.

[JamesWash]

As far as downside or any problems, who knows until the problems come. But my experience with shutting off after close was saving about 5 to 8% on gas bill monthly. The only trouble I had was sometimes I forgot to turn it on in the morning since I did not put the heaters on timer.

[JamesD]

I have a Hamilton V-Tube boiler and I asked Jeff Deal (pres of Hamilton Engineering) this exact question last week.

1. I have to be concerned about freezing because I'm in the North

2. He said that it's not good for the pump to be shut off and on manually or cycled with a thermostat. It's built to run continuously and will last longer that way. His estimate of savings by NOT running the pump and boiler overnight was about $200 a year!!

Don't forget that once the water in your storage tank is up to the set temp, it takes very little energy to keep it there, especially considering that there is no draw overnight.

[petefritz]

I have a timer on the hot water heater inmy house, I don;t need water between midnite and 7 am. and neither do my laundry mats.. excpet the 24 hrs stores. I have no pump, so the only downside I can see is I have a smaller gas bill which means I end up paying more taxes from the oney I save..

[millenniumplus]

Peterfritz, James, Et al - appreciate your feedback. We have two busy stores and a very big WDF service
so we understand our gas and eletric bill will be huge. None the less we've had plumbers, electricians
and the gas then electric company in and they say all is working as it should. We are always investigating
ways to improve the business and of course, save money. The thought of saving $200bucks a year doesn't
exactly thrill us but a potential chance of 5-8% saving does. We would be leaving our pump running but
turn off the dual motors and hot water tank (so recommends the plumbers). We are staffed so the night
shift would turn it off and the day shift would turn it on. Did hear our system was designed to run
continuously (from the original installation folk). We decided effective Sunday night to begin the
off again on again procedure with our hot water system. No feedback here (or from them) so far
that says absolutely don't do it or major problems would occur (eg.: complete breakdown of the
entire system) so we decided to give it a 3+ month trial. We should be able to gauge a reasonable
savings (5-8%) or this not being worth it ($200 per year). We'll let yall know the results.Again, thx...

[JamesD]

I suggest calling Hamilton directly and see what they have to say about it. They are the true experts and they are very helpful.

Let us know how it works out!

[hotwash]

this is why i have natco wall units, i had polamas before that