Something I haven’t done yet in my house is install low-flow faucets and shower heads. To be honest, until I did the research for this post, I wasn’t too worried about it. I knew I was losing too much hot water (and electricity) down the drain, but until I found the following at fypower.org I [...]
From EnergySavers.gov:
“Insulating your hot water pipes reduces heat loss and can raise water temperature 2ºF–4ºF hotter than uninsulated pipes can deliver, allowing for a lower water temperature setting. You also won’t have to wait as long for hot water when you turn on a faucet or showerhead, which helps conserve water.
Insulate all accessible hot water pipes, [...]
Some days, there’s nothing better than a long, hot shower. However, according to the US Department of Energy twenty gallons of water is used during the average shower.
By shortening your shower by just a minute or two each day, you will not only save 100-200 gallons of water per month, but you’ll save big [...]
This is tip took a while for my wife and I to embrace. With two young children who get into messes on an hourly basis, we struggled with the thought that washing our clothes in cold water would actaully get our clothes as clean as washing in warm or hot water. However, after trying out [...]
One easy thing to do to save on water heating costs is to insulate your water heater with a low cost wrap from any home improvement store. According to the U.S. Department of Energy:
“Unless your water heater’s storage tank already has a high R-value of insulation (at least R-24), adding insulation to it can reduce [...]
Last summer, my family and I were on vacation when our water department came to take the monthly meter reading. We received a cell phone call from the water department telling us that it looked like we had a massive water leak. Apparently there’s a leak detector on our water meter and it was spinning [...]
One no-cost and very simple thing you can do to lower your water heating costs is to lower the temperature on your water heater. Whether you have an electric water heater or gas water heater, lowering the temperature will save you money. Here’s the way it works: your water heater is constantly heating and re-heating [...]
There’s nothing more annoying that having to wait several minutes for hot water to reach your shower or facuet. Not only does this waste time, but it wastes gallons of water. The solution? Many houses, including mine, have circulation pumps installed that constantly circulate hot water so there is always a ready supply of hot [...]