Intermatic EH40 Water Heater Timer

So far it works fine. I'm only rating it 3 stars for the following reasons:1. It arrived damaged, but it clearly wasn't damaged in shipment. There is a plastic part inside that holds the timer in place in the metal box which was broken. I initially was going to return it, but I was able to bend the metal clip to hold the timer securely.2. The LCD screen is tiny and of very low contrast. Even in a room with a window and 80 watts of fluorescent light directly overhead I needed a flashlight shining directly onto. the LCD to read it.3. Most importantly, the instruction manual is very poor regarding installation, and my package included an insert of a wiring diagram that didn't match the wiring diagram on the plastic insulation cover. I compared it multiple times. The unit it self is labeled thusly:1 = Line 1, 2=Line 2, 3=Line 1, 4=Load 1, 5=Line 2, 6=Load 1.The insert has the first 2 reversed, and shows jumping 1 to 5 and 2 to 3.I followed the instructions I found here: http://waterheatertimer.org/How-to-wire-EH40-hot-water-heater-timer.htmlSo far it seems to work fine.My overall impression is that this is very cheaply built using the cheapest components possible.On the plus side it's cheap, and the box has plenty of room to allow for wire nut connections if you need to go from stranded to solid or something. Programming is straightforward.I got an all in one conduit / 3 10 AWG conductor kit from the local hardware store. Unfortunately it turned out to use stranded wire, which isn't really safe for the screw terminals in this timer, and if you try to put stranded on one side and solid on the other of a single terminal on side will not be secure. I got about 1ft of solid 10 AWG cut into 4" lengths and wire nuts to go from the stranded to solid into the screw terminals, wrapping each with plenty of electrical tape to ensure no shorts. tl,dr: Make sure you use solid 10AWG to hook up to the screw terminals.Personally I'd probably get a better unit from another manufacturer if I had to do it all over again. Intermatic should really consider upping the quality of these devices - I'd pay more for a better device.

Bought this timer to save on my electric bill. I guess it does. Only running water heater for 2 1/2 hours a day. We only use hot water to take showers.I have it coming on 30 mins before showers and one hour in the morning just so it doesn't go so long without being on.Not sure how much it saves on electric bill but it's saving on running the water heater keeping water hot we don't use.The installation instructions were a little hard to understand for someone like me that doesn't have much experience with 220 volts.I found a web site that clearly shows in photo how to install it. Very simple. Timer is easy to set although I'm use to this type of timer so it was easy for me.I also purchased 25 feet of Southwire 28829021 10/2WG NMB wire from Amazon. Web site I was on said not to use stranded wire like the electrician that install my water heater used. I replace all the wiring to the heater with the solid copper wire.Highly recommen this timer.

This is the first product review I've ever written. I feel compelled to write a review on this as it short circuited today, and almost caused a fire. Luckily, I was home and was able to shut off the power. I smelled an electrical burning smell when I got up this morning. I searched around and couldn't find it. I smelled it a little later in the morning when I got back home and luckily checked this timer. There was a little bit of smoke coming out of it. I immediately shut of the breaker and inspected it. Inside, everything was beginning to melt and burn. This worked fine for about 6 months, and randomly decided to self destruct today. Had I not been home, I'm sure it would have caused a serious fire. I uninstalled it, and I'll be contacting Amazon and or the manufacturer for a refund.

I ordered this product to replace one which I had for several years and which finally bit the dust. It works in exactly the same manner, is easy to program, has a battery backup and can be easily overridden. I use it on my water heater to avoid heating water unnecessarily throughout the night and during the day when I don't need it. One can set up multiple programs on it.I have the "Time of Day" savings through my electricity provider, so I program this to heat the water two hours prior to the start of the premium electrical usage hours and to turn off when that higher-cost usage period begins. A full tank of hot water takes me through the day until the reduced-cost electrical usage hours begin, at which time the unit turns the electricity to the water heater back on again for a few hours before I retire for the evening. My electric bill, which had shot up for the time between the failure of my old unit and the installation of this new one, is now back down to where it had been.

I have discovered this timer is fully interchangeable with the Intermatic T104. I currently have a T104 that bit the dust after about 5 years so I decided to try to save a little money and purchase only the guts only for my older timer but found it was actually cheaper just to buy a complete WH40 unit.Once I received the WH40 I realized it was almost identical to my T104... The cover on the WH40 has a cutout that allows you to manually turn the unit on and off without actually opening the box. Which is nice!You can easily change the cover/door of the T104 to the WH40 by simply bending the little chrome hinge tabs straight, installing the new door and bending them back, As for the guts, a spring clip at the top holds them in place, simply push up on this clip, remove the T104 guts and install the WH40'sIn my opinion it is much easier doing this than installing and wiring in the new box...Took me about 10 minutes tops.As for the WH40 ...This timer seems to be working fine...I will update my review if that changes.