Nobody likes getting home after a long day at work to discover there’s no hot water. The prospect of a cold shower in winter is about as inviting as sticking your hand in a wood chipper so it makes sense to ensure that you will always have hot water on hand by using these easy-to-follow tips.
There are several ways that you can either save hot water in winter or boost your system to produce more hot water when needed (like when friends or family stay over or when there’s more than one female in the house ;-P ).
OK... here are some tips on how to save hot water in winter...
Take Shorter Showers
I know this seems like a really simple thing to say, but think about how easy it is to stay in a looooong, hot, steamy and thawing shower in the winter when you’ve been buffeted around by the Ekka westerlies.
You can grab yourself a digital shower timer that will help reduce the time you spend in the bathroom – there’s even shower timer apps for both Android and IOS. If you want to get super diligent, give your kids permission to flush the toilet or turn the hot tap on after the four minute mark and give them the joy of hearing you scream like a banshee when the cold water hits you like an icy tsunami.
Insulate Your Pipes
This is a particularly handy hint if you’ve got a solar hot water system. In cold weather you can lose up to half the heat from your pipes (depending on the length) (source). Take note of your hot water system position and the piping that comes from your solar system to it and from it to your house and any exposed pipes, insulate them with pipe insulation (you can get it at Bunnings).
Get an energy efficient hot water system installed
If you’ve got a hot water system that’s older than 7-10 years, there’s a pretty good chance it’s costing you money. Newer, more efficient systems will use less energy and heat more hot water than old tired hot water systems. We can help you out with hot water system installations, repairs or upgrades so give us a call on (07) 3351 7500.
Change your peak usage habits
If most people in your house have showers in the evening, there’s the potential that the poor schmuck who gets in the shower in the morning isn’t going to have much hot water left (particularly if you’re running on a solar hot water system). It’s worth looking into your habits to see if you can fine-tune your showers to get the maximum amount of hot water from your system.
Get a water saving shower head
Again this is one of those incredibly simple things that can often be overlooked. The best way to test if your shower is a water saving shower head is to get a bucket of water, put it under your shower head and turn it on full blast for one minute.
If you’ve filled an entire bucket in a minute (most plastic buckets are around 9 litres) or the bucket is overflowing, there’s a good chance you’ve not got a water saving shower head. Water saving shower heads run at around 7.5 litres per minute.
Turn the hot water down
I know I’m not going to be the most popular bloke in the house for mentioning this but the reality is that we live in QLD and it doesn’t really get that cold (I know this winter has felt more like a warm autumn than a cold winter!). This being the case you don’t need to come out looking like a freshly cooked yabby – turn the hot water down a little and this will not only save you hot water, but power and water consumption also.
So there you have it, some simple and effective ways to reduce your hot water usage and save on hot water this winter.