I’m Deb Kowalski, and in my Port St. Lucie house, as of mid-September 2026, I know the reflex: leave the tank water heater at its usual setting before going away for several days. I used to picture the electricity it would take to heat a cooler tank when I got home and figure I might as well keep it hot. That feels like avoiding a chore, which is not quite the same as avoiding the electricity.
You and I live here in Florida, and this season there is plenty to think about before leaving the house. The concrete Port St. Lucie hook is FPL’s vacation advice for the water heater: turn off its circuit breaker rather than keep heating water when nobody is home. It is a different instruction from simply leaving the setting alone and hoping the return warm-up would be the expensive part.
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What FPL says
FPL puts its vacation advice plainly: “Turn off the circuit breaker to the hot water heater. No need to heat water if you won’t be home.” That is about the time the house is empty. If nobody is drawing hot water, there is no reason in that advice to keep a tank ready for a shower that is not happening…