Elk M1 and Water Heater

mishab

Member
Hi. Again thank you for all the help. So far the system is working very well. I love it.
I would like to automate one more thing. What i want to do is to set my water heater to vacation mode between hours of 23:45 and 5:45. What do I need to make it happen?

- Misha
 
How do you set the water heater to vacation mode now? Is there a switch? Is there a timer? Is the control low voltage? If yes, then you should be able to use an ELK relay.
 
Unfortunately the Elk-9100 is X10 only. In fact I do not know of *any* non x10 220v control. Martin - you know of a 220v UPB controller?

Brian - by 'on demand' water heater, are you referring to a tankless unit? If not, can you give a brand and model?
 
Steve said:
Unfortunately the Elk-9100 is X10 only. In fact I do not know of *any* non x10 220v control. Martin - you know of a 220v UPB controller?
Not true. Check the second line of the specs of the Elk-9100:

Code:
FEATURES / SPECIFICATIONS:
• Controlled Remotely from X-10 Power Line Carrier Commands.
• Optional Dry Contact Closure Activation.

See more details here:
http://www.elkproducts.com/products/elk-9100.htm
 
The Insteon I/O Linc is supposed to be out Q4 and might work with the dry contact input of the Elk 9100. The dry contact input could also be operated directly from an M1 relay output.
 
elcano is correct, the Elk 9100 can be controlled with either X10 or contact closures.

I have 2 Elk9100s at my house. Currently I'm controlling them with X10. I just set rules on the M1 to turn them on and off.
 
I have a ELK-9100 on my 80 gallon electric hot water tank turning off at 11:30 PM and back on at 5:30 AM and then when the M1 is armed away I turn it off. I calculated $20 a month savings on my electric bill. I made the control of the hot water a TASK so that I could control it from the keypad, Touchscreen, and telephone remote control.



If you have a gas hot water heater, you are out of luck. Not controllable!
 
shutting the electricity down to a gas hot water heater wouldn't stop it from running, or are you worried about the pilot light?
 
electron said:
shutting the electricity down to a gas hot water heater wouldn't stop it from running, or are you worried about the pilot light?
??? There is no electricity on a gas water heater. My point was a gas water heater without a setback controller is as cheap to run as an electric one with a setback controller.
 
My gas based hot water heater is plugged in, I will have to figure out what exactly it needs power for, I always assumed it was for the thermostat etc.
 
Quote

"My point was a gas water heater without a setback controller is as cheap to run as an electric one with a setback controller."



Not so sure about that concept any more ?

Gas (natural gas) prices have taken quite a hike up here over the year or two.

Not the bargain we used to have !

I pay $15 or $16 in monthly gas service charges before I ever open a gas valve.
This month was 11.25 + 4.98 = $16.24 service charges for $9.46 worth of actual natural gas. That's cooking and hot water only.

Electrical was 18.32 + 1.46 + 1.32 = $ 21.10 for $11.31 worth of electricity. That's lights,tv and a pc basically (nothing here uses 220V).

I think a demand system (gas or electric) might be the cheapest route to take now but not worth the expense to change anything over !

Anyone studied up on this ?


Neil
 
Tankless gas hot water heaters need electric for the electronic igntion and a fan if its a direct vent (most are).

I installed a Tankless gas hot water heater in January and I saw a drop of $33 a month on my balanced billing gas bill. The heater cost me $650 in the end (I installed it myself) so I will break even in less than 2 years. After that I am saving almost $400 a year in gas. the heaters are supposed to last 20 plus years but even if I get 12 years out of it I will have saved over $4000. Besides the gas company wanted $850 to install a regular gas hot water heater.
 
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