Water heater insulation wrap, has it reduced your electric/gas/water bills?

Discussion in Water started by MrsJones • Nov 28, 2014.

  1. MrsJones

    MrsJonesActive Member

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    I live in a two story house and it takes the water over a minute until it's at a comfortable temperature. The shower and sink, I always hate to see wasted water going down the drain just because I'm waiting for it to warm up.

    I can't invest in a new water heater just yet but I don't know if that will even help. I'd like to hear comments on the efficiency of the water heater insulation. Have you reaped any savings on your utilities?
     
  2. remnant

    remnantActive Member

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    I come from a different premise since I don't heat my bathing water after being acclimatised when I was in high school. I also wear heavy clothing indoors when its hot and use a stove for most of my cooking requirements. I also reuse most of the water to void wastage.
     
  3. Happyflowerlady

    HappyflowerladyWell-Known Member

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    I have also lived in houses where it takes the water a long time to get to the faucets that are a long ways from the hot water heater. No matter how well insulated the hot water tank is, it is still going to take the same length of time for the hot water to get from one end of the house to the other. The only difference would be that it would be hotter once it got there if the water in the tank was hotter.
    I don't think that wrapping the tank is going to help the situation at all, @MrsJones@MrsJones . what might help would be to insulate the pipes that go from the tank to the upstairs faucet.
    When I lived in Idaho and pipes would often freeze in the winter, it was a common practice to wrap the pipes, especially when they were underneath the house. I lived in a trailer house, so all of my pipes were underneath, and when we turned the water on, it was ice cold until the hot water got there. After we wrapped the pipes, they didn't get as cold. it still took the same amount of time before I had the hot water, but it stayed warmer in the pipes.
    We also used something called a heat tape, which actually warmed up the pipes, so the water was almost luke-warm. If you had something like that around the pipe close to where the faucet is, then you would have warmer water while you waited for hot water.
    I also just use cold water most of the time unless I am taking a shower or something where I will be running the water for a while. But for just a quick washing my hands, cold water is just fine.