Hot Water Heater Energy Saving
May 22, 2009 by yoursydneyplumber
Filed under Hot Water Systems
The hot water heater is one of the highest power consuming electrical appliances in your house. Typically, 12%-15% of your utility bill is contributed by your hot water heater. There are four main methods of reducing your water heating bills and saving energy. They are:
- Consume less hot water
- Lower the thermostat on your hot water heater
- Ensure that the hot water heater is well insulated
- Get an energy-efficient & energy saving hot water heater
Apart from these four main methods of energy saving, here are some tips to help you reduce your utility bills:
- Ensure that your taps and showerheads are aerating and low flow.
- Ensure that there are no leakages. Many litres of hot water could be leaking through a dripping tap somewhere in the house.
- The factory settings on most thermostats are unnecessarily high. Bring it down to a more practical setting.
- The water storage tank of the hot water heater should be well insulated. Else, you will lose a lot of energy in heating water. But, depending on the kind of tank you have, ensure that you follow the manufacturer’s recommendations.
- If the first 3 metres of hot and cold water pipes are well insulated, you will be able to save a lot of energy.
- Installing heat traps on your cold and hot water pipes will also help prevent heat loss.
- Clean your water storage tank on a regular basis to remove sediments, if any. Follow manufacturer’s instructions, but ensure that no sediment is allowed to collect in the tank.
While these are steps you can take on a daily basis to reduce the power consumption of your hot water heater, here are some long term energy saving tips:
- Most hot water heaters made over 5-7 years ago are likely to consume a lot more energy that the newer models. Even though most hot water heaters will last for over a decade, if your heater is over 7 years old, you may want to consider replacing it with an energy efficient model.
- If you are considering buying a new hot water heater, ensure that you look for the ENERGY STAR and EnergyGuide labels. These appliances will save you a lot of energy through its lifetime.
These hot water heaters are now considered the most efficient for energy saving…
- High efficiency gas non-condensing
- Gas condensing
- Electric heat pump
- Gas continuous flow
- Solar
To help your energy saving efforts you may want to consider getting yourself one of these hot water heaters.
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