How To Save Money On Your Electric Bill Part One: Water Heaters

With the cost of electric utility services continually on the increase, everyone needs to learn how to reduce their electricity consumption. Moreover, anyone thinking of installing a wind turbine, solar panels, or combination of the two should reduce their electric usage first. This is part one in a series of articles dedicated to helping the average homeowner save money on their utility costs. By following the steps and tips in this series and making them part of a daily routine, consumers can lower their electric bill by as much as 50% fifty percent. Yes, many households can reduce the dependency on their electric utility company by half.

Electric Water Heaters

Owners of natural gas or propane water heaters will also benefit from the information provided below because heating less water saves on fuel costs. Natural gas and propane prices have reached new highs in the past few years.

Many homes are equipped with electric water heaters. If not properly maintained, the water heater can be the highest electricity consuming appliance in the home. Among the many reasons electric water heaters use so much electricity are; lack of insulation on hot water pipes, no water heater blanket, thermostat set too high, and too much hot water consumption. Sometimes water heaters are located to far from where hot water is needed, such as the kitchen sink or the shower.

One of the biggest wastes of electricity is having the water heater thermostat settings too hot. I have seen thermostats set as high as 150° F. Not only is that wasteful, it can be dangerous because the scalding point is around 120° F. A setting of 110° F is plenty hot enough for showers, baths, washing the dishes, or doing laundry. Tank type water heaters also tend to build up debris in the form of scale, rust deposits, and sediment inside the tank which can cause them to be less efficient. Annual or semi-annual flushing not only helps its efficiency, but can also extend the life of the water heater.

Proper insulation on the hot water pipes will help keep the water hot much longer than pipes without insulation. The water in insulated pipes will remain hot for several hours, but without insulation, that water will get chilly in a mater of minutes. If the water lines are not easily accessible, at least insulate the hot water pipe, or line that comes from the water heater as far as possible. Even one or two feet of insulated pipe will help.

The addition of a water heater blanket will help the water in the tank to stay hot much longer, thereby reducing the number of times the water heater will kick on and off. Watch your electric meter when the water heater kicks on and you will be shocked at how much faster it runs. A water heater blanket is very inexpensive and will pay for itself in savings in a very short time.

If more than one gallon of cold water comes out of the kitchen tap or bathroom shower head before hot water begins to flow, it might be time to consider a small point-of-use tank-less water heater. This is not intended to replace an existing water heater, but only to help reduce the dependency on it. Many manufacturers say that a whole house tank-less water heater is ideal, but there is still the problem of the length of the water lines from the water heater to the point of use. The “instant” hot water still has to push the existing cold water in the lines out of the way, so it is not really “instant” hot water. Again, this water is wasted because you now have un-used hot water sitting in the water line getting cold again. Read this article about whole house tank-less water heaters by Consumer Reports.

Instead of installing an expensive whole house tank-less water heater, I installed a small 110 volt tank-less water heater under my kitchen sink because it normally took almost 2 gallons of cold water through my tap before any hot water reached my sink. That not only wastes water, but now there is two gallons of hot water in the water line or pipe that is also wasted. After a short time, the water in that line will get cold and the next time hot water is needed at the kitchen sink, that cold water has to be run out of the line again. Remember, the water now sitting in the hot water pipe used electricity to heat up and the cold water that flowed into the hot water heater tank will use electricity to heat up also. My point-of-use instant water heater only operates when I need hot water at the sink. The installation of this item alone resulted in a 10 % reduction in my electric bill. My bathroom and shower is even farther away from my water heater, so I recently installed a point-of-use tank-less water heater there as well. We all love it because we no longer have to stand outside the shower waiting for the hot water.

During the day when most consumers are not at home because of work, school, or other activities, the water heater continues to cycle on and off. During this eight or ten hour period, the water heater can be turned off manually, or a more convenient method is to use a water heater timer switch. Timers can be programmed to shut off power to the water heater during these extended times of non-use, and to turn the power back on a half hour or so before hot water will be needed. Also, the timer can be set to turn off the power when everyone goes to bed and to turn on again shortly before the family begins their day. This can result in a huge power savings for the average family because electricity for the water heater will only be on for a few hours per day. A good quality timer can also be programmed to shut off the power during family vacations or weekend get-a-ways. For example: The family leaves the house on Friday afternoon and is expected to return on Sunday afternoon. Just before you leave the house, shut of the power thru the timer, but have it programmed to turn back on Sunday an hour or so before you intend to return home. Now, no electricity was used to unnecessarily heat water for 2 whole days. The average water heater uses $2.00 to $3.00 per day if left to run unattended, so you just saved $4.00 to $6.00 on your electric bill in one weekend. Add to that, the use of a water heater timer can save about 50 cents to $1.00 per day. That can add up to $30 a month in energy savings. Of course these savings will vary because on some days, people will be home all day and hot water usage might be erratic during those times and the timer will likely not be in use.

One last tip for saving electricity is with the use of water saving shower heads. What? I thought this was about saving electricity, not saving water. Well, the use of a water saver shower head reduces the amount of hot water used, thereby saving electricity also. A standard shower head uses 3 to 4 gallons of water per minute (GPM). Installing the water saving shower head can reduce water usage to 1.5 to 2.5 GPM depending on the model of shower head. This can benefit you in one of two ways; you can use less water, or take longer showers without the risk of running out of hot water. I prefer saving water and money instead of taking longer showers. For people who prefer baths over showers, water saving shower heads won’t be of much help. Personally, I prefer showers because I don’t like the idea of washing my face and hair in the same water that my feet and butt made contact with first.

This concludes part one of how to save money on your electric bill. Part two will soon follow. As always, thanks for reading and have a wonderful day.