How to Cut Down on Hot Water Bills

Water bills can be astronomically expensive, especially during the summertime when watering your lawn and garden becomes a necessity. Hot water, because it requires energy to heat it, is even more expensive.

Here are a few easy tips to cut down on hot water bills.

#1 Insulate your hot water pipes. Insulation minimizes the amount of heat you lose and therefore causes the water to stay hotter. This means you don’t need to spend extra energy warming it. Moreover, you don’t have to run your faucet as long to tap into your available hot water.

#2 If your dishwasher has a high temperature wash feature, turn it off. Standard hot water temperatures and soap are enough to get your dishes clean.

#3 Staying with the dishwasher theme, make sure your dishwasher is full before you run it. Running half-full loads wastes water.

#4 When shopping for a new dishwasher or clothes washer, always opt for an energy-saver model.

#5 When washing clothes, use cold water to wash them. It not only saves on your hot water bill, it also helps maintain their color fastness, making your clothing last longer.

#6 When washing clothes, make sure your washer is full and is set for the right sized load. If you’re washing a small load, make sure your washer is set for a small load.

#7 Take shorter showers. Just cutting your shower back by a few minutes can save hundreds of dollars.

#8 Turn up the heat on your hot water tank. Doing this means it won’t take as long for you to tap into the hot water and your faucet won’t have to run as long. However, if you have little ones, it may be a good idea to wait until they’re older so they aren’t accidentally scalded.

#9 Reuse towels and wash clothing sparingly. The “wear it once and wash it” philosophy leads to many loads of laundry. Towels, jeans and other items don’t need to be washed after every use. You can use them or wear them two to three times before laundering.

#10 Don’t bathe every day, unless you absolutely need to. Most often, we don’t need to bathe or shower every day. Every other day is just fine. And with children, that is certainly the case. A little wash down with a warm washcloth is typically enough on off days.

#11 Put a cylinder or tank jacket on your hot water tank to cut heat loss.

#12 Consider installing a heat exchanger. This type of system recycles water from your shower, taking the water through the device where it is heated to the right temperature and then pushing it back through your shower. The water that is being recycled is already fairly warm so it doesn’t require much energy to get it back to an acceptable temperature.

Cutting down on hot water bills not only saves on your monthly utility bills, it is also good for the environment. Choose just a handful of these tips, implement them, and watch your hot water bills shrink.

photo credit: Thiago Avancini

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