Can You Save Money By Improving Hot Water Usage Without Home Solar Power?
No one likes a cold shower first thing in the morning. The good news is that there are other ways to cut costs on your energy bill.
Most people don’t realize this, but one of the largest home energy expenses is heating your water. If you haven’t opted for home solar power to heat your water yet, there are still ways to save money on this money grabbing beast. A few simple steps, and the energy beast will be tamed in no time.
A main reason for the high cost of heating your water is time. To put it simply, your water is heated 24 hours a day, of every single day of the year. In order for you to wake up and have hot water on demand for your morning shower, the water heater has to fire up. This is a good thing. What is not a good thing, though, is how many times this tank fires up during the day when no one is even home. And then what about when you sleep? When the water heater uses energy simply to keep the pool of water in the tank hot while it is not even in demand, it results in a serious waste of money. Let’s not even talk about what it does to your energy bill!
There are ways around this though – even without full home solar power. The first as we mentioned yesterday, would be to go with a solar water heater. The solar panels for the water heater are much smaller and more efficient than those that would be used for the rest of your home. They are able to produce plenty of hot water during the day so running out should not be an issue. If you are a family that takes lots of baths and showers, you can supplement with the same electrical power that you use for your other household items. If this does happen, the energy used is still a lot less than it was.
Another alternative is a tankless system. The on demand water heaters are far more efficient, simply because they only heat water when necessary, and not during off hours. It is imperative to look for an Energy Star rating if you desire the most efficient model.
If the above seems like too much work and you haven’t decided to go full board with home solar power yet, there are still a few alternatives. One, you could turn down your water heater thermostat to 115 degrees. The second thing you can do is insulate your water heater. You can buy a pad to do this at any home improvement store. A third option would be to insulate the pipes that carry the hot water. Fourth, you can replace all of your faucets with low flow faucets. And fifth, which is personally my least favorite, is to take showers instead of baths since showers use considerably less water than do baths.
It is said that the average US residence uses over 700 gallons of water per week. By making minor adjustments, you can make large gains in conserving energy and saving money.
Until next time,
Let the sunshine in!
Lauren
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This article remind us that convenience comes at a price – in terms of high energy bill when we want to have running hot water on demand. Yes, we should save the earth and switch to less energy consuming appliances. Will return to this site for more tips on reducing energy bill and save money!
Thanks a lot for the tips on how to make our hot water usage more efficient. I really like the idea of using solar energy as an alternative source of energy, but unfortunately it still cost some major investment to have one at home.
Thanks for the info on how to conserve more energy. I’m always looking for ways to save the earth and save myself money at the same time…it’s a win/win situation
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Growing up in a really cold part of the US it never dawned on me to turn off the hot water during low usage periods. We were always worried about pipes freezing. Now that I live in a moderate European climate there is no excuse not to make even these small changes. Thanks for the tips and I look forward to reading your next articles.
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The topic is quite hot in the net at the moment. What do you pay attention to while choosing what to write about?
Hi, cool post. I have been wondering about this topic,so thanks for writing.
We have installed a solar water heater at home and it is also as good as conventional water heaters..,”