How To Reduce Your Hot Water Bill

1. Faucets

Take a look at your faucets. Most of them are single throw—meaning there is only one handle, not two. Since one handle is easier to use, these faucets have become the standard and are ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant. The challenge is that the faucet handle sits in the middle. When you wash your hands, you usually throw the handle straight up. That brings hot and cold water. The hot water you have called for will rarely make it to the tap before you finish washing your hands. So, the heated water is lost in your pipes. It will sit in those pipes and cool down, wasting energy.

One solution? A few manufacturers create single-throw taps that provide cold water first. To get your hot water, the throw only allows one direction to turn from there (to the left).

Another straightforward solution is to install low-flow aerators for your bathroom sink faucet. WaterSense labeled fixtures provide for a maximum of 1.5 gallons per minute (gpm) flow rates. This saves you 30 percent on your water, compared to the standard 2.2 gpm faucets. Most of these savings will show up in a lower water bill. But if you are using hot water at your sink (for shaving, for example), you will save money on your energy bill as well. Faucet aerators can be free as part of a home energy audit or are available at your local hardware store for a few dollars.

2. Laundry

Washing all of your clothes in cold water is another simple step to using less hot water. Most new laundry soaps and washing machines are designed to work with cold water. So, there is no reason to wash in hot water!

3. Bathing

Most people in the 21st century take showers instead of baths, which typically use significantly less water (and hot water). But with all the fancy showerheads and jets and spas, the water consumption is climbing back up. Consider using low-flow showerheads to reduce your use of hot water. The newer low-flow showerheads are not like the ones of old that left you cold and miserable. The latest design and engineering science are taking low-flow to incredible new levels—like this Nebia showerhead.

How to Be More Energy Efficient in an Existing Home

1. Retrofit Your Shower with a Drain Water Heat Recovery Unit

If you live in a two-story home, you can realize an excellent opportunity to reduce your hot water bill—but it does require a retrofit of your shower.

The technology is called a drain water heat recovery unit. It means you “recover” some of the heat you have already used in your shower as it goes down the drain. The design is simple, but you need access to the vertical part of your drain line from the shower.

If you are building new, think about where the hot water tank is located. Will it be near the kitchen or the master bedroom? Those two rooms are typically pretty far away from each other. Can you re-design your layout to have the smallest distances possible between your hot water supply and the taps? Locating bathrooms adjacent to or above another can save tremendous amounts of pipe required to run and wasted hot water. Design teams can build more efficiency into their buildings by incorporating this simple detail into their plans.

Bottom Line

Heating our water is the second-largest energy consumer in our homes. Small changes in how you use your hot water and the flow rates of your fixtures can help you reduce your monthly energy bill. When designing new, keep your wet rooms as close together as the program allows, and push your design team to make that a priority. Once you have the design, ensure the plumbing professionals use the smallest size pipes allowable, keep the runs short, and insulated. (Oh—and put an easy shut off to your hot water supply for those pesky teenagers and their long showers. They will quickly learn to keep them short when it goes ice cold.)