Our hot water heater is on an auto switch for nighttime heating. This does not work for our family as we are night time short takers, so there is no hot water by the time we are ready. We pay to heat water from cold, it sits all day, and is cold even we want it. However, every time i flip this switch to just “on” it sends to reset itself to auto. Every day. How can i get it to just stay on?
Talk to an electrician/ plumber. The heater thinks you want to save money by heating overnight when it’s cheaper. Also there must be some problem with your tank since it should still be hot by the evening - mine are. You’ll need a pro to override it, unless you are an electrician.
(Bonjour, s’il vous plaît, merci).
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So it can be overridden by the breaker, it’s not in the meter? My husband did electrical beck in the states. The system here is more different than we anticipated.
If your system is wired “aux normes” there will be a 2A breaker somewhere in the board that is there to protect the switching circuit that runs to, & back from, your meter (where there is a dry switch that closes during “heures creuses”).
That breaker will usually be installed next to the three position contactor/switch that you use to override things during “heures pleines”, &/or next to the breaker that actually supplies the power to the water heater. If it’s labelled it will say something like HC/HP, or “bobine”.
If you switch off that 2A breaker the switching circuit will no longer work & the permanent on position of the contactor will not be reset to auto.
It does sound as if you either use an excessive amount of hot water, or the tank is too small for your needs, or is faulty.
P.S. If you do end up not using your cheap rate properly then you can switch to base/single tarif which is slightly cheaper than the day rate that you pay under HC/HP & has a lower standing charge too.
EDIT: The above solution involves no fiddling with wiring or removing anything.
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No idea, I’m not an electrician but I do know there are significant differences between how we do things here and how they are done elsewhere. Ring someone whose job it is.
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Hello Laurie and welcome to the forum…
What does the above mean… ??? “short takers”
In France it’s quite usual to heat water at night and as has already been said… it shouldn’t drop all it’s heat “just like that”.
However, we did get rid of our night/day switching and now heat water on demand.
Works for us but we are (perhaps) not normal… 
by the way US is very different to France… get a French registered electricien would be my best advice.
That-s exactly what we did when need permanent hot water.
I think it’s a mistype for ‘shower’.
I quite agree 
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Ah… might be so.
I’d never get my hair dry in time for bed…
You’d better prepare yourself for many more shocks to come…
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See what you did there 
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And don’t get cold feet
I changed my tariff to cancel out HC/HP and my bills have been cheaper. As there is only me there was no point in having it. Quick call to Engie who did the changeover within 24hrs via the Linky.
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I guess the best solution would be to have the electrician put in another, bog-standard, circuit-breaker that is on all the time. You have the option of having a parallel circuit run to a new socket/terminal block, so you can swap back to the timer if your circumstances (or habits 
)change.
Just seen Shiba’s reply above - that seems the best option. 
That’s another way to do it.
As the OP @Laurie_Hall hasn’t replied to any of our comments we don’t know if they make use of HC for other things such as washing, dishwashing, drying etc., or if they occupy the house full time.