Is it cheaper to:
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Leave the heater on all the time or:
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Turn it on a couple hours before it’s needed? (Then turn it off until it’s needed again.) My electric bill is outrageous, trying to find a shortcut.
Leave it on. It costs a lot more to heat cold water than warm water. And the heating elements are not designed for repeated heating of cold water, you risk burning them out sooner.
If you have hard water you may want to see if the elements have a large build up of mineral deposits. This will either require a plumber or careful disassembly of the unit on your part following the manufacturers directions.
Leave it on. You might try lowering the thermostat on the heater, if the water is scalding hot right now. You could also try getting an insulation jacket for the heater, especially if it’s located in an unheated space. Places like Home Depot sell them.
If your heater is old (which would be anywhere from 5-10 years, depending on the rated life expectancy), you may want to consider replacing it with a tankless water heater (there are many types, do a search to check). If you are a DIYer, you can hook one up yourself. The initail cost is around $800 or so, but you’ll save a lot in the long run. It heats up water only as it’s needed, there’s no tank (it’s wall mounted), and you never run out of hot water. It’s a good choice if you’ll be staying in your house for a while.
Here’s some additional info:
http://www.eren.doe.gov/erec/factsheets/watheath.html
Here we go again. Oh how I wish people who do not know what they are talking about would take a moment to think before posting.
Turning the heater off will save you. Every time. But how much depends on many things. here are some things to think about:
If you turn the heater off for some hours while no water is used you would save some heat lost by conductivity. If the heater is well insulated this should not be much. If the heater is not well insulated you are betetr off wrapping it in an insulating blanket.
One effective way to save some Kwh is to lower the thermostat as much as comfortable. Suppose you want your shower water at 100F. If you bring water from the heater at 200F and then mix it with cold water, you have a lot of losses in the pipes. And the hot water which remains in the pipes loses a lot of heat. OTOH, if you bring the water at 100F and don’t mix, the result is the same but you don’t lose so much heat in the pipes. The problem with this is if the heater is small and you run out of water. That’s the problem I have on the boat. The heater is tiny and you need to accumulate the water boiling hot and then mix with cold. But at home I have a big heater and I set the thermostat as low as I can.
In any case, electricity is expensive. Gas is much cheaper.
In our last house, the water heater for the bedrooms (there were 2 wh in the house) was on a timer. It turned off at 10PM and on at 4AM, then off at 9AM and back on at 4PM. Plus we could turn it on at will. I don’t know what effect it had on the bill, but we never ran out of hot water upstairs, and it worked just fine the whole time we lived there.
I’m gonna have to the the jerk who asks for a cite on that little factoid. All the water that comes into the heater is cold water. On top of which, all the heating elements do is switch on and off as commanded by the thermostat.
Thanks All.
A little clarification:
I rent, and the landlord put in a new water heater about a year ago, the old one crashed.
Anyway, here in lovley Efland (Yes, Its a town) we have “Peak Hours”, right now from 6 Am to 10 AM. (More Bucks) So I turn the damn thing off between those hours without problems. My question is, can I turn it off longer than 4 hours and still have hot water in, say a couple hours from whenI turn it back on?
Sailor, gas is not an option, and as I live in a single wide, the legnth of the pipe shouldn’t be an issue.
Thlink I’m going for an electric blanket. 
I would but I don’t respond to fuckheads.
I’m trying to remember one time when we used all our hot water (different house from my other post) - it was a 40 gal tank and I think it heated in about 30 minutes. Certainly under an hour.
Me, I just wish posters who were about to be unwarrantedly rude would take a moment to think before posting.
I just did a bit of browsing -- the only hard figure I could find on switched hot water heaters was that it might save you $10.00/year. (http://www.gvea.com/memserv/buildersense.php) I dunno how reliable that site is, but they are trying to talk people into installing the timer, so I'd think they'd be as positive as possible.
Here’s another cite that estimates a 10-15% savings. http://www.heco.com/CDA/default/0,1999,TCID%3D2%26EmbedCID%3D4425%26CCID%3D4452%26LCID%3D4604%26CTYP%3DARTC,00.html
Again, assuming that hot water heating is about 15% of your monthly bill, and a $50.00 bill (just guessing here), then we’re talking a couple of dollars a month.
Now to me, $10.00-20.00/year seems like a pretty small benefit for the increased inconvenience of having to occasionally wait for hot water. I think that alternative methods of conservation --lowering the temperature to the recommended 120 degrees, insulating pipes and taking shorter showers would be more effective. This assumes a modern, heavily insulated water heater.
I see that the OP’s town has tiered power rates – that does change the cost/benefit equation somewhat, but the prime benefit is from using the power at a more beneficial time.
**KneadtoKnow ** and racer72, both of you have been here long enough to know that this type of posting is not allowed outside of the BBQ Pit. I expect your next posts in this thread to be apologies-if not to each other, then to the rest of us.
Czarcasm-Moderator
I certainly didn’t see anything in my post which could be taken as being over the line, and for that failure on my part, I unhesitatingly apologize to all involved.
You refered to racer72 as a “jerk”.
Alas, now I see the nature of the problem.
What I said was: “I’m gonna have to the the jerk who asks for a cite on that little factoid.” What I meant, and did not until just this moment realize that I had not said was, “I’m gonna have to be the jerk who asks for a cite on that little factoid.”
So, with all due respect to Czarcasm and anyone else who correctly read what I mis-typed, I called me a jerk.
I understand now- I misunderstood what you mistyped. 
I believe that racer72 misunderstood the same way I did, but his response is still not appropriate for this forum.
Have you checked with your electricity supplier to ask whether they offer “off peak” hot water rates? It’s standard here for hot water services to heat twice a day during off-peak hours. If you then run out of hot water, the HWS will reheat at peak rates.
A couple years ago I got tired of paying 200.00/month electric bills and over a couple month period fiddled around with all of our electical appliances.
I find significant savings in shutting off our hot water heater until it is needed. I save 20 to 30 dollars a MONTH with the method and there are currently 5 or 6 of us here.
It only takes a half hour or so to heat our currently 32 degree water to 120 degrees in a 40 gallon tank. I am sure All the water in the tank is not that temp, but there is plenty for a shower or two.
We try to schedule bathing and dish washing together to avoid turning it off and on. I do have a timer for it but never use it because our schedules are pretty erratic. We ususally shut it off before we actually use any hot water, so we aren’t heating water we don’t intend to use. THere is often enough hot water 24 hours later to still take a quick shower.
My tank is 20 or more years old and I only remember replacing the elements once, though I do drain it out occasionally to remove sediment.
If you want to save a lot on your bill… shut it off when not in use.
I second sailor and bare. Turn it off at night and back on after work the next day. If needed you will still have WARM water in the morning. Shower after work before dinner and doing the dishes.
bare, that is a lot of savings.
I think I’m going to look into a timer.
reprise, I am also going to look into “Off Peak” hot water rates.
Thanks All.