Can I increase the resistance of my linear potentiometer?

Other Hardware General Electronics
17

Are you using a bare ESP8266 (1volt A/D) or a WeMos/NodeMCU board (with 100k:220k divider).
Switching the pot high-side will cost 3.3volt/320k = 10.3uA when 'off' (or more).
Switching high-side (P-channel fet) eliminates that.
Leo..