Frugal Tips For Saving Money On Household Water Heating
If your home has a tank-style electric water heater, then it is important you understand it is one of the biggest contributors to your monthly power bills. Thankfully, there are simple and inexpensive things you can do to reduce the power needs of your water heater to save yourself a significant amount of money.
To use less power heating water and lower your monthly utility bills, follow each of these tips.
Tip: Reduce Your Hot Water Usage
When you turn on the hot water faucet in your home, the water heater's tank starts to automatically backfill with cold water. This keeps the tank full at all times, but it also lowers the temperature of the hot water inside of the tank. The thermostat detects the water temperature has dropped and turns on the heating elements. Each time the elements turn on, your power meter starts to spin. For this reason, simply using less hot water is one of the best ways to save on your power bill.
Tip: Turn Down the Hot Water's Temperature
Especially during the summer months, you can easily turn down the water heater's thermostat and keep the water in the tank stored at a lower temperature. You can find the thermostat under the protective panel near the elements.
Tip: Insulate the Water Heater and Hot Water Lines
To keep the water inside of your water heater and plumbing hot, it is important you insulate wherever you can. For example, water heaters can be wrapped in insulating blankets to help prevent heat loss. You can purchase inexpensive pipe insulation at any hardware store and should wrap it around all of your home's accessible hot water lines.
If your water heater sits in a garage or is in a mobile home closet near an exterior wall, then it is important you insulate the area against the outdoor cold. If you don't do this, then your water heater will run all the time when it's cold outside in an effort to keep the water hot enough.
Tip: Consider Installing a Tankless Water Heater
Finally, one of the biggest ways to have as much hot water as you want and still save on your monthly power bills is to replace your older tank-style water heater with a newer tankless option. Tankless water heaters heat water on-demand rather than continually reheating a large tank of water, and this saves a lot of money over the life of the appliance.
Contact your local water heater repair service for more information and assistance.