The hot water heater that was in the house when I first put my bid in was not up to par, but the bank that owned the home wanted the home to meet appraisal so they put in a new one. Like a proud parent posting a picture of his child in the bathtub, here's the embarrassing picture of the naked hot water heater.
It lives in my basement near the furnace. I don't spend much time in my basement, so I have closed the vents and it gets pretty chilly down there. To state it bluntly... the hot water heater has a difficult time keeping the water above 100 degrees. Even if I did heat my basement, it would still have to work hard to keep the water warm. Some people opt for tankless hot water heaters because those don't have to maintain high temperatures for 40 gallons of water, but I didn't have a choice since the bank replaced the hot water heater for me (I'm not complaining about not having to pay for new water heater though). I did the next best thing for the environment (and my gas bills); I wrapped my hot water heater in a blanket. An insulated blanket costs between $20 and $30 dollars. It's a roll of fiberglass with a plastic sheet to hold it all in. There's also tape included... and instructions. It's pretty simple to do:
- clean top of heater
- cut blanket to size
- cut out space around heat dial
- wrap around heater and tape according to instructions.
Dealing with fiberglass is horrible, but do you really want a naked hot water heater purging your money just to stay hot? It's indecent on so many levels :)
It lives in my basement near the furnace. I don't spend much time in my basement, so I have closed the vents and it gets pretty chilly down there. To state it bluntly... the hot water heater has a difficult time keeping the water above 100 degrees. Even if I did heat my basement, it would still have to work hard to keep the water warm. Some people opt for tankless hot water heaters because those don't have to maintain high temperatures for 40 gallons of water, but I didn't have a choice since the bank replaced the hot water heater for me (I'm not complaining about not having to pay for new water heater though). I did the next best thing for the environment (and my gas bills); I wrapped my hot water heater in a blanket. An insulated blanket costs between $20 and $30 dollars. It's a roll of fiberglass with a plastic sheet to hold it all in. There's also tape included... and instructions. It's pretty simple to do:
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