Guest Author - Dale Yelich

I get asked a lot of questions about easy way to save on energy bills that are cost effective, yet will show a genuine difference in both quality in use, and quantity of leftover dollars in your pocketbook. Here is one of my favorites.

Although they have been around for decades, not everyone believes in them, but for true energy savings, get a hot water heater jacket, and those foam hot water pipe wraps. And actually, with the coming of winter, this is the best time to get them and put them on. Why? Because basements, where most plumbing is, gets colder during the winter months, and therefore the benefits will be greater by wrapping your water heater and piping right now.

Years ago, someone might have made the argument that the price of materials and time to do this, wasn’t particularly cost effective in the overall scheme of things. However, with energy prices on the rise, that argument doesn’t hold so much as a cup of hot water anymore.

Although water heaters are generally insulated from the factory, an extra heating jacket might boost efficiency by as much as 25 to 45%. In laypersons terms, that equates to anywhere from a 4% to 9% savings on hot water. Needless to say, adding insulating hot water pipe wraps, will boost that savings even more.

Water heater jackets run anywhere in price from $15.00 to $35.00 with the higher priced ones offering a better insulation quality. Truth be told, you’ll make this cost up almost guaranteed within 6 months time, and a lot shorter if you have a larger family where showers and dishes eat up a lot of hot water.

They are easy to put on as well. Most come with adhesive tape already supplied, so you just wrap a heater jacket around the tank, tape it together, and that really all there is to it.

As for the pipe wraps, you may need to supply your own duct tape, but since they are pre-formed to fit around pipes, just pop them on, tape them together, and you are good to go.

You’ll find both of these things at virtually any hardware store and at most department stores too. And really, the only thing you’ll have to know before you buy a jacket is what size your tank is, and a basic measurement up one side. Most of these things are virtually one size fits all, so as long as you know the rough tank size and height of your unit, that should be all you need.

So there you have it, one of the easiest and most cost effective ways to keep s lot of hot water in the tank, and a little money left over in your pocketbook.