Electric Hot Water Heater Monthly Kilowatt usage

[Mrmichaeljmoore]

I am trying to find out what my monthly Electric Hot Water Heater Kilowatt usage is....

I have a Whirlpool (made by American Water Heater) 50 Gallon water heater.

My electric company says the water heater can cost anywhere from $75-$90 a month.
That sounds really really high to me.

I know it may be tough to give an accurate number because of all the variables.....but if anyone has a ballpark figure that would be great.

Additional info:
Unit is 4 years old (Installed January 2005)
50 Gallon
Temperature is set at approximately 120 degrees
Whirlpool brand (Purchased at Lowes)
Water heater is wrapped with an insulation blanket
Household has 2 adults, 1 2-year-old
No one home during the day
2 showers, 1 bath per day
Most laundry done with cold or warm water
Location: Fairfield, Connecticut


Thanks.
mike

 

[Jadnashua]

An electric WH has a small standby loss, so the energy you use is that to raise the water from the inlet to the outlet temperature. A shower may be at 105-degrees or so, so a little math and you can figure out how much actual hot is used in a shower. Note how long you run the shower each day. How much goes into the tub for the kid. Approximate how much you use for dishwashing, etc. You'll come up with an approximate amount of gallons. For rough numbers, a gallon of water weighs 8 pounds. A BTU will raise one pound one degree. One BTU = 0.293watthours.

Say you use 1000 gallons and your incoming water temp is 50 degrees. Your heater raises each gallon 70-degrees. That's 8000 pounds * 70 degrees, or 560000 * 0.293 or 164080 wh, or 164kWh. If your electric rates are $0.15 cents per kWh or $24.60.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Scuba_Dave]

Wow, Thanks - I didn't think an estimate like that would be possible
Out oil fired water heater died maybe 2-3 years ago. We had a 50g Whirlpool 95% efficient model installed

I do know our electric bill did not go up anywhere near $75-90 a month

 

[Jimbo]

Another way to "round number" this: Let's say your heater is 5.5KW, and let's use my electric rate of 16cents per KWH. It would cost $ 0.88 for every hour that it was heating up. Just wild guess at 2 hours per day, that would be about $26 per month. Electric rates, how much water you really use, and how cold the ground water is , would vary that.


Usually, the electric company has accurate data on what an appliance costs to run, but they probably use figures for an "average" family, and maybe that is not you.

 

[hj]

heaTER

$40.00/month was the number usually used years ago. It should be higher by now. But there should be a "yearly cost" tag on the water heater and you use that KW usage with your KW cost to get an approximatin.

 

[Redwood]

Since the poster is in UI territory cost per kWh is probably between $00.212 and $00.29 dependin on rate plan, season, and usage