{"id":1403,"date":"2019-10-07T14:02:09","date_gmt":"2019-10-07T18:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/tune-up-your-water-heater-for-bigger-savings\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T11:02:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T16:02:21","slug":"tune-up-your-water-heater-for-bigger-savings","status":"publish","type":"consumer-blog","link":"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/tune-up-your-water-heater-for-bigger-savings\/","title":{"rendered":"Tune Up Your Water Heater for Bigger Savings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We\u2019ve been celebrating <a href=\"https:\/\/energyefficiencyday.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Energy Efficiency Day<\/a> all month long with <a href=\"\/consumer-blog\/how-americans-got-into-hot-water\/\">interesting facts about one of the most essential appliances in the home: the hot water heater<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0 Conventional water heater design is 130 years old and ripe for innovation. Happily, new technologies are bringing significant energy efficiencies to the humble water heater.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sense customers have discovered that old, inefficient water heaters can be their biggest energy hogs. Minor tweaks, upgrades or even replacements can lead to big savings. One of our favorite stories comes from Chris H. in North Carolina.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Hunting Energy Hogs with Chris H, North Carolina\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HJL9KZeK-5Q?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When he got Sense up and running, Chris says, \u201cI was floored at how much our electric water heater was pulling to heat the water. Sometimes it would run for an hour or two at 900 watts. It cost $600 per year to power that water heater.\u201d Knowing that his water heater was about 20 years old, Chris decided to plan ahead rather than waiting for the heater to break down. He bought a hybrid water heater that uses about a fifth of the power and immediately saved about $41 per month.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Howard S. bought a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/sensesaves.sense.com\/water-and-energy-savings\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">new home in Florida<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and discovered that the electric water heater was using about 4800 watts when it ran. Says Howard:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My first impulse was to run out and buy a hybrid unit to replace the electric hog. I saw that the yellow and black stickers on the hybrid claimed $125 a year in electricity while the all-electric is rated at $525. So, first instinct was \u2018wow I can save $400 a year by buying a unit that costs about $1,200, or a simple payback of three years.\u2019 But then I took some time and got enough historical info from Sense to see that I was not actually using that much. Those ratings are based on an average family of four, and we are only two people. My usage was trending at between $150 to $200 on an annualized basis, so the capital expense did not make sense.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nice analysis, Howard!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wondering whether to replace your water heater? Once Sense has told you how much energy your water heater is using, you need to do some homework to decide about replacement. The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has a helpful energy usage calculator for <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/eere\/femp\/energy-cost-calculator-electric-and-gas-water-heaters-0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">electric and gas water heaters<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/femp\/articles\/solar-hot-water-system-calculator\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">solar water heaters<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sometimes, though, a simple tweak makes a big difference. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/sensesaves.sense.com\/hot-water-heater-in-performance-mode\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">David R<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. had a problem at his home in New Hampshire: Monthly electric bills had ballooned past $300. He bought Sense to diagnose the hidden problem and immediately discovered his new hot water heater turning on three times an hour at 13kWh. He checked the settings and discovered it was set to Performance mode. Changing to Energy Saver mode solved the problem\u2014the water heater now uses a 10th of the energy it was using before. David estimates $500 per year in savings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sensesaves.sense.com\/sense-helped-with-faulty-solar-water-heater-system\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fernando U. in Colorado<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> used Sense to assess how his solar water heater was performing after he fixed a problem with the system. He verified that the heater\u2019s energy usage had dropped from 14kWh per day to 7kWh, a potential savings of $250 per year. To see these and other stories about energy savings, check out <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/sensesaves.sense.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sense Saves<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are some additional tips for optimizing your water heater:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Use a timer that turns off your water heater at night, when you&#8217;re away on vacation, or during peak demand times if you&#8217;re on a peak demand energy pricing plan.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lower the thermostat: while most hot water heaters arrive set at 140\u00b0F, they can safely be lowered to 120\u00b0F. You likely won\u2019t even notice the difference and can <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lookforther.realtor\/organize-maintain\/home-maintenance-tips\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">save anywhere from 3 to 5%<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for every ten degrees lowered.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Insulate the tank and pipes: By insulating the delivery pipes, hot water will arrive to your faucet warmer than without insulating, requiring less time to get to the desired temperature. By insulating the tank, you can net savings up to 9% on your heating bill.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Mind your usage. An obvious option \u2014 and the mantra of dads everywhere, second only to &#8220;Turn off the lights!&#8221; \u2014 is to take shorter showers. But don&#8217;t forget about the washing machine or the dishwasher. Do those clothes really need to be cleaned in scorching hot water?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The hidden, homely water heater is essential to our comfortable daily lives but it\u2019s easily overlooked. As winter approaches and to celebrate Energy Efficiency Day yourself, take some time to check out your water heater and see if it\u2019s performing as efficiently as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn how you can save big on your water heater with these Sense customer stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1404,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"1","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"consumer-blog-category":[7],"content-type":[13],"featured":[],"class_list":["post-1403","consumer-blog","type-consumer-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","consumer-blog-category-energy-usage-tips","content-type-article"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - 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