An efficient and well-insulated hot water tank will help conserve energy whether your tank is heated by electricity (like mine) or by oil or natural gas. Unfortunately, a lot of the pipes leaving the hot water tank are not well insulated, at least in older homes (also like mine).
Luckily, putting insulation on exposed copper is a quick and easy way to help! All you need is some pipe insulation and a knife. Measure the various lengths of exposed pipe and cut appropriate lengths of insulation. Simply wrap over the pipe (careful! it might be hot!) and seal if necessary.
This is what is looks like when complete. Relatively painless. Total time was about fifteen minutes start to finish. Total cost was $0.00 as the insulation was just laying around my garage. You should expect to pay about $2 a metre or less. Insulating the hot water pipes in the walls is a job best done when building a new home or when renovating walls. My next step for this system is to wrap the water heater with an appropriate thermal blanket.
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3 comments:
I just did these tasks just the other day, and two things came to mind:
1) Rather than an insulating blanket, it's too bad that the heaters don't just come stock with a beefier R value.
2) By insulating, I am keeping the water from losing heat as fast, and therefore less electricity to keep it up to temperature -- but, the escaped heat would just be saving my basement rads some work (as they keep the room & 5 C or higher) and the electric heating mechanisms for either are likely similar efficiencies -- so maybe the job turns out to just be a waste of resources?
1) Absolutely. This is an item that would benefit from a design improvement. Tankless water heaters may also be a way to go.
2) In our winter climate, you might have a point, but your hot water tank should be hot enough to be radiating heat year round, even in the summer when the room isn't heated at all. So some good insulation here would be a year round benefit, likely offsetting anything you spend to heat that one room. Not to mention the extra water you might waste down the drain waiting for the shower or sink faucet to get up to temperature.
both good points for #2!
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