reduce consumption of off-peak hot water boiler - timer?

Hi there

I have 2 electric hot water boilers in my house (in France).

They both work with off-peak power, but they run all night long, so they consume way too much

Because of this, I'm looking for a way of reducing their consumption.


For example, I was thinking if I could replace their automatic fuses (top right in the attachment) with a timer one?

The only issue that could arise though, is that the pressure drops - I think that happens to my GF one, when I switch off the fuse.

Is there maybe a better way of doing this?

Many thanks!

The water heaters will have a thermostat which switches them off once they reach the set temperature, so they will only be consuming enough power to heat the water and no more. A time switch will not reduce power consumption unless you restrict the time it is on so much that the water can't get up to the required temperature.

davesparks said:

The water heaters will have a thermostat which switches them off once they reach the set temperature, so they will only be consuming enough power to heat the water and no more. A time switch will not reduce power consumption unless you restrict the time it is on so much that the water can't get up to the required temperature.

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Assuming that it is a well insulated tank then i agree with you.
the best way to reduce your power usage for hot water, is to reduce the amount of hot water you use

davesparks said:

The water heaters will have a thermostat which switches them off once they reach the set temperature, so they will only be consuming enough power to heat the water and no more. A time switch will not reduce power consumption unless you restrict the time it is on so much that the water can't get up to the required temperature.

Click to expand...

Hi Dave

Thanks for the feedback - I understand.

The issue is that absurdly enough the thermostat is not adjustable (not like the one I have here in the UK, where I can set the desired temperature).

In essence, the electric boilers we have in France seem to be large hot water cylinders, with immersion heaters - not too sophisticated at all..

This results in almost boiling hot water - we can only ever have the tap basically in the centre, if not it becomes unbearable.

The idea was to be able to control the amount of time the boiler runs overnight, so that the water reaches more usable temperatures, while also reducing consumption, if this makes sense?

Any advice?

dfreitag said:

The idea was to be able to control the amount of time the boiler runs overnight, so that the water reaches more usable temperatures, while also reducing consumption, if this makes sense?

Any advice?

Click to expand...

If you want to achieve control of the temperature then add a temperature control not a time control.

can you post a picture of the heating element?
if possible with the power off and the cover off.