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An Immediate Fix
If you do nothing else, the fastest and easiest way to cut your utility bills may be simply to turn down the temperature setting on your water heater. The hotter the water, the faster it loses heat to the surrounding air. Keeping water above 120 degrees is a waste for most households, as well as a risk that someone could accidentally get a scalding. So if you routinely need to mix cold water with the hot for a shower or to wash dishes, the temperature is probably set too high.
Unless you launder diapers at home, run out of hot water often, or have a dishwasher without its own heating element, you can probably reduce the temperature setting and start saving money today. Try turning it down just a little and see if anyone complains. If not, turn it down a bit more until you find your family's threshold.
Insulating your water heater is an easy next step. A typical kit consists of an insulation blanket fiberglass batting attached to heavy plastic sheeting and some heat-resistant tape to fasten the blanket around your heater. Some kits include pipe insulation for hot-water lines, too.
Step by Step
1. First, clean up. Clear away any items stored around the heater and wash the top of it well otherwise the tape won't adhere. If the heater is strapped to prevent toppling in an earthquake, remove the strapping before you insulate, but remember to put it back when you've finished.
2. Cut the blanket. Use a metal tape measure to determine how tall and how big around the heater is. Add about 3 inches to the heater's "waist" measurement. This extra should allow you to fasten the blanket around the heater without compressing it. If the fiberglass mat is flattened, it won't give you its full insulation value.
Wear work gloves, and consider using a dust mask as well. Roll the insulation blanket out flat on the floor, plastic side up. Use a felt-tip marker to draw the dimensions you've measured onto the blanket. Then cut the blanket to size with scissors or a utility knife. Along one of the edges that will run from the top to the bottom of the tank, cut 1 inch of the fiberglass batting away from the plastic. You'll use this full-length flap to overlap the other side of the plastic jacket when you wrap it around the heater.
3. Trim and fasten the blanket. Do a trial wrap on the heater. If the blanket fits correctly, stick on a few short strips of tape to hold it in place. If it's too loose, trim the excess from the edge that's full thickness (the one you didn't trim to make the flap). When the fit is right, tape the entire seam closed.
If your water heater is electric, feel through the insulation for the controls. Right over those controls, use scissors to cut a three-sided flap in the blanket, leaving the top edge attached. This will give you access to the thermostat and other controls when you need it, but will tuck back into place when you're done. When everything fits neatly, use more strips of tape to attach the blanket to the top of the water tank.
On a gas heater, the control valve sticks out from the tank, and you'll have to cut the blanket away to expose it. Be sure to cut "notches" in the blanket, too, for the drain valve and the temperature and pressure (T&P) valve as well. Be very careful not to block the flue or air intake on a gas water heater.
Never insulate the top of a gas water heater. But if yours is electric, you can insulate its top, and this is how. Measure the diameter of the heater's top, then cut a circle of insulation blanket that's a few inches larger than your measurement. This should give you enough extra to tape down over the sides all the way around the water heater. Cut slots in the circle so you can slide it past the pipes and electrical cable, and be careful not to cover the relief valve. Tape up any slits, and you'll have a completely wrapped heater.
4. Insulate the hot-water pipe leading out of the heater. The greatest heat loss occurs closest to the water heater. In fact, when you look for the outgoing water pipe, don't go just by pipe temperature. The cold-water intake pipe will likely be warm to the touch as well. The hot-water pipe typically doesn't have a valve, and it may be labeled on top of the heater.
If your pipes are straight and uncomplicated, use preformed foam insulation tubes, which are already slit and sized for the pipes' outside diameters, so they're easy to put on. For intricate pipe layouts, use fiberglass or foam insulation tape; it's easy to wrap around irregular bends and joints. Buy enough insulation for at least the first 10 feet of pipe leaving the heater, if that much is exposed.
Once again, don't forget to reattach any bracing you may have removed before you put the blanket on.
Steve Blenk is a professional woodworker with 20 years' experience in both the building trades and furniture industry. He has served as a contributing editor for several major woodworking publications, and is currently building his own house in the Pacific Northwest.
TOOLS AND MATERIALS
Gloves
All-purpose cleanser
Metal tape measure
Sponge
Marking pen
Water heater insulation kit
Dust mask
Duct tape
Large scissors or utility knife
Foam pipe insulation or insulating pipe wrap
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