Energy Saving Tip: Get Your Pipes insulated

Get Your Pipes insulated

Energy is not cheap and everyone who is a homeowner gets a reminder about it once a month when the bill from the utility company comes in the mail. There are many expensive ways to reduce your energy cost, but there are also many affordable ways to do it at the same time. So, besides replacing windows or putting in a more energy efficient furnace, what are those other steps you can take to reduce your energy bill?

Let’s walk down into your basement and take a look. It is easy to spot items you can work on if you have an unfinished basement. If your basement is fully finished or if you do not have a basement, your options are a little more limited though. So, what we are looking for are copper pipes – especially copper pipes coming from your water heater. These are the pipes that carry warm water and an open pipe means that some of the heat used to warm up the water will be wasted. A non-insulated pipe loses heat and the water can cool down faster. This means it takes longer for warm water to reach the faucet (= wasted water) and it means that your water heater has to work more to produce more hot water. Let’s insulate these pipes as far we can possibly reach them. Get your measure tape out and measure the reachable pipes. Foam insulation for copper pipes at your local Home Depot or Lowe’s usually comes in 6 ft. pieces and should cost less than $2.00 per 6 feet. Buy the insulation as needed and put it around the copper pipes. You can either just leave it afterwards as they should cover your entire pipe or you can use tape (duct tape work great for me) to tighten the insulation. This kind of work is cheap and easy to do and while the savings are small, you have to consider that all these efforts will add up at one point.

The next thing to look at is your water heater. Most newer water heaters have some sort of insulation already build-in. Put your hands on the outside of the water heater. The cooler the water heater feels, the better it is insulated. The warmer it feels, the cheaper the water heater (sorry, but if you paid a lot for it, you were ripped off) and the bigger the loss of energy. At your local hardware store buy a water heater blanket and install it around your water heater. If attached properly you can save energy in significant amounts. It will not make up for buying a more expensive, but more energy efficient water heater though – however, it is a good start into the right direction.

Conclusion: While insulating pipes and the water heater will bring only smaller energy savings, you have to look at the big picture. Combine all your energy saving efforts and then compare your bill from before and after and you will be amazed how easy it is to save money by conserving energy. I also recommend the purchase of the “Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings” – great book with tons of information of how you can save energy and reduce your monthly energy bill significantly.