Talking About Air Conditioners

How To Keep Your Hot Water Heater From Draining Your Bank Account

If you're like most people, you probably never think of the hot water heater hidden away in your closet or basement. However, as one of the only appliances in your home that is on literally all of the time, it can be one of your home's biggest energy users. Here's how to keep your hot water heater from wasting energy and your hard-earned dollars.

Use a Thermal Wrap

The laws of physics cause heat to try to even itself out. That's why your coffee gets cold when you leave it out and your refrigerator runs when you haven't even opened it.

When you drink coffee, a paper cup will cool off faster than a well-insulated thermos. The same concept applies with your hot water heater.

While a hot water heater isn't quite as thin as a paper cup, it also isn't as well insulated as it could be. Wrapping a thermal blanket made for hot water heater insulation around your hot water heater can turn it into the well-insulated thermos and reduce how much your hot water heater runs to maintain the water temperature when no water is being used.

Be Mindful of Which Tap You Use

Do you mindlessly turn the faucet to hot when you're quickly rinsing off a plate or your hands? For these quick rinses, you probably never even feel the water getting warm.

However, because you opened the hot water, your hot water heater is sending hot water out into your pipes. This water will then cool down in your pipes while you pay to heat the new water that was pumped into your hot water heater.

Always use the cold tap unless you really need hot water.

Replace Your Older Hot Water Heater

Over the years, the government has passed laws that require hot water heaters to achieve higher levels of energy-efficiency. Additionally, as consumers have placed more importance on going green, manufacturers have pushed even further to provide maximum energy efficiency as a key selling point.

The odds are that you're using a hot water heater that's decades old if not the same age as your house. If it's older than 10 years old, it may have missed out on these energy efficiency improvements, and it could be costing you more to run it than a new, efficient model would cost.

To learn more about lowering your hot water heater's energy use or to schedule a water heater repair, contact a local HVAC contractor today.