Weekend retreat

[4wanderingeyes]

So right now my new house I am moving into next summer, is my weekend getaway. I am there pretty much every weekend. The questions I have about having the weekend getaway is, do you turn off the electric hot water heater every time you leave, then turn it back on when you get back the next weekend? In the winter how low do you turn your heat down to?

So far I have been shutting off my hot water heater when I leave on Sunday, then turning it back on on Friday nights. But is it harder on the heater to heat it back up from cold, or doesnt it matter? Also does it cost more to heat it back up, rather then keeping it hot? The water has been warm when I get back there on Friday nights, so I am not sure which way is better?

Heating the place, I am in Zone 3, so temps do get cold in the winter, when you go their every weekend, how far do you turn it down to? I have been turning mine down to 55, then I turn it back up to 65 remotely Friday morning, and it is back up to 65 when I get there. I have infloor radiant heat, so it runs pretty much all day to get it back up to temp. Would it be better to just turn it down to 60? Or what do others do?

 

[Bill]

I Don’t shut my hot water heater off and leave the heat on about 60. Any lower than that and it takes all night to get the place warm.
This is our beach house because like you I’m back and forth very often.

 

[bueller]

Mobile home with skirting. I turn the forced air furnace down to 48. Whether I plan to come back in a week or in a month, I turn our electric water heater off when I leave. When we get an extreme cold snap I sometimes bump the furnace up a little to prevent a freeze up.

 

[Tree Spud]

If it is tied to your in floor heat, I would leave it on. Continuous use and circulation is much better than on/off. These newer heating systems also like to see full run heating cycles as opposed to short run cycles with low thermostat settings.

If anything, turn your water off when you leave. We had a pipe burst 2 winters ago and had to replace a 1/3 of the main floor right down to the sub flooring.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

If it is tied to your in floor heat, I would leave it on. Continuous use and circulation is much better than on/off. These newer heating systems also like to see full run heating cycles as opposed to short run cycles with low thermostat settings.

If anything, turn your water off when you leave. We had a pipe burst 2 winters ago and had to replace a 1/3 of the main floor right down to the sub flooring.

It is a separate system. I have my infloor boiler heat system running a dual system for the garage floor, and a separate zone for the upstairs living quarters. So I just have a regular hot water heater for the hot water.
I have been shutting off the water, and shutting off the hot water heater every weekend so far, but was wondering if it is harder on it, or more costly to heate it back up from a cooler temp, rather then just keeping it hot over a week. Come winter I won’t be there every weekend, but usually every other, or every 3rd weekend to check on things.

 

[Tree Spud]

It is a separate system. I have my infloor boiler heat system running a dual system for the garage floor, and a separate zone for the upstairs living quarters. So I just have a regular hot water heater for the hot water.
I have been shutting off the water, and shutting off the hot water heater every weekend so far, but was wondering if it is harder on it, or more costly to heate it back up from a cooler temp, rather then just keeping it hot over a week. Come winter I won’t be there every weekend, but usually every other, or every 3rd weekend to check on things.

Given how well they are insulated these days, not sure it would be worth it. Maintenance temp is low and start up much higher demand. What is hardest on a heating device is frequent cold start-ups as that places the stress on the system. My HVAC guy has told us better to leave on low when gone for extended time than turning off.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Just a thought on the electric hot water heater and I have no experience so take this with a grain of salt. Could you run it off of a "Christmas lights" timer? Set it to turn on and off at a certain time maybe run like an hour a day type of thing? However that goes against the frequent start stop cycles mentioned. I don't know, just a thought.