January 4th, 2008 - Insulating the water heater
A VERY common frugal tip is to insulate your water heater. I never followed this tip because when we bought this house, our inspector told us the heater was internally insulated and it would be a bad idea to put a jacket on the outside.
I’ve never seen this advice subsequently, so this summer, I bought water heater insulation. I’d SWEAR I measured the heater first, since I had no idea what size it was. Perhaps I only checked how many gallons it holds–60. Bought the less expensive insulation, which was 2″ of fiberglass with a metallic outer shell (it was during the summer, but I think it was $25). We finally put it up a couple weeks ago. Apparently, we have an odd-sized heater, because the insulation that fits “Most 60 gallon heaters” is far too short lengthwise. Which we didn’t realize until after we’d cut it to fit top-bottom. the heater is also really close to the chimney and it was impossible to tuck it back in there. We’d figured we could patch together the pieces at the side and cover most of it. Instead, it’s oddly taped so that only the backside next to the chimney isn’t covered. Looks horrendous (also had to hack off an area in the front for the controls–not easy to do when it’s attached already), but at least it’s insulated!
We might buy another one, and freecycle these pieces. Not sure. At the same time, I also bought pipe insulation. That I actually put up in the summer, covering most of the hot water pipes in the basement. The pipes have strange angles which made it a difficult and time consuming task. I intended to also do the cold water pipes, but in most places they are too close together to fit two pieces of insulation.
One more thing in the basement: We have two basement vents (heating/cooling) which are completely unnecessary since we’re never down there. (Except when doing things like the above LOL.) The one pointing towards where the previous owner had a worktable (he must have been really short) was closed off (shut and a piece of cardboard placed in it) years ago. This past year, however, I noticed the second one, which is right on top of the furnace! It probably has the warmest air in the house coming out of it! It was also rusted open. And, since it was so close to the furnace, I wondered if it might be necessary in some way. So I remembered to ask the gentleman who cleaned and inspected the furnace about it. He said it would be fine to close it off. Eric took care of it before the water heater.
It’s not perfect and we didn’t use cardboard, but the difference was immediately noticeable. I’ve also noticed a temperature drop during the few times I’ve popped down there for stuff lately. Admittedly, it’s been super cold out for weeks, which is part of it, but not having an open vent has to make some difference, too!
The things you never notice…. (also includes another light in the basement. 7 years in the house and I saw it for the first time this fall. Need to put a compact fluorescent in it so we can use it. I can’t believe how many lights are in the basement, however. And there isn’t one where I need it the most!)
2 Responses to “Insulating the water heater”
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January 4th, 2008 at 1:32 pm EST
I am curious to know how this effects your heating bill. Please let us know in a month or two. Thanks
January 28th, 2008 at 3:17 pm EST
[…] Oh, and they won’t install insulation a water heater jacket. The plumber said that they void warranties now so almost no pros will install them. (Given our issues doing the current heater, we thought we might have them do it while they were at it.) So I guess we won’t do it, either. This also means I can’t update y’all on how much we saved due to insulation. […]