Your water heater is one of the most-used appliances in your home. It’s used for everything from showering to hand-washing to laundry and more. So if you’re interested in lowering your energy bills, your water heater is one of the best places to look for improvements in efficiency. Below we’ve listed four great ways you can reduce the amount of energy your water heater consumes!
4 ways to improve water heater efficiency
- 1. Install a higher-efficiency unit. Perhaps the most obvious way to improve water heater efficiency is to install a unit with a higher efficiency rating. Even if you take great care of your unit, you can’t make up for the higher costs associated with running a unit with a low efficiency rating. Look for the Energy Star label to ensure that the next water heater you install in your home is ahigh-efficiency unit. These water heaters have an Energy Factorof 0.67 or higher.
- 2. Get professional annual maintenance. If you want to maximize your water heater’s efficiency throughout its lifetime, it’s important to have annual maintenance performed every year by a professional like Cabrillo. During maintenance, we’ll take care of any issues that might affect your water heater’s performance and efficiency. This is a great way to ensure that your water heater performs to its labeled efficiency rating.
- 3. Turn down your water heater temperature. Many manufacturers set the temperature of their water heaters to 140 degrees. However, a temperature setting of 120 degrees is sufficient for hot water in most homes. It’s estimated that you can save 3-5 percent off of your water heater’s energy consumption for every 10 degrees that you lower its temperature. So by lowering your water heater’s temperature from 140 degrees to 120 degrees, you can cut its energy consumption by 6-10 percent!
- 4. Drain your water heater of sediment. Sediment builds up at the bottom of your water heater’s tank over time. When this happens, it makes it harder for heat to transfer from your water heater’s burners to the water inside your tank. This causes your water heater to work harder and consume more energy. You can avoid this efficiency problem by draining a few gallons from the bottom of your water heater a few times a year.
If you have any questions about how to improve the efficiency of your water heater, or if you’d like a plumbing system serviced or installed in your home, contact Cabrillo, your Bay Area plumbing, heating and air conditioning company.