Monday, July 20, 2009

#55 Don't pay for hot water you're not using!

Wow! It's been a month since I last posted! It has been a very busy month and I've been gone for a lot of it.
Sometime back in March (I remember because I had just gotten back from somewhere) I read a suggestion to turn off your water heater when you are gone from your house for an extended time. What a great idea! But of course I couldn't post about it until I put it into practice. It's simple, just flip the electrical circuit for the water heater before you leave on vacation, and you won't be using electricity or paying for hot water that will just sit there. I don't know for sure, but I'd estimate that you need to be gone for at least 2 days for this to be an effective money-saving method since it takes quite a bit of energy to heat up the entire water tank once it's all cold.

Pros: Simple, effective, money-saving

Cons: You have to remember to do it before you leave. You will have to wait an hour or so after you get home (after you remember to turn it back on) before you have hot water.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Actually, that's a common misconception. Heating up the water when you get back *always* takes less energy than keeping it heated. Some people even keep their water heaters on a timer, and only have them on during shower time.

The same thing applies to cooling down or heating up the house too.