Airsense 10 heat plate

Should the heat plate feel hot or just barely warm? I ran a 10 min check on "warm up" and it was warm but not hot . I did this because last two nights noticed markedly less water used and humidifier tank did not feel warm upon removal in the morning like it usually does .

Depends on how high you have the humidity set. The higher the setting, the hotter the plate. It's the hot plate that makes the humidity.

No...it shouldn't feel very hot at all. Pleasantly warm is about as hot as it gets.
To have if feel cold in the morning isn't unusual either because the heating plate cycles on/off and you probably just caught it in the off cycle.
Water consumption is governed mainly by ambient humidity....the drier the air is the more water will be consumed in an effort to maintain selected humidity setting.

Example.....I use a setting of 8 for my humidity setting and when the ambient humidity is on the high side (like it is raining outside and I have the windows open) I barely use any water at all. I have never had the heating plate feel hot at all....just warm.

Other factors in water consumption are pressure needs or excessive leaks along with the humidity setting.....but the main factor is ambient humidity.