Your water heater is one of your most important devices. It would be very difficult for you to do laundry, wash your dishes, and enjoy warm and hot showers without it. You surely need it. Unfortunately like any other device you use in your home, your water heater needs maintenance to sustain its utility. However, sometimes it just becomes too costly to maintain or you start fearing for its durability.
To reduce this wastefulness, here are the top helpful hacks to make your water heater last longer:
Insulate Insulate Insulate
You can wrap your water heater tank in insulation blankets to reduce standby heat loss and to keep the tank warmer for a long time before it has to reheat itself. This way you can also save yourself some energy costs and wear outs. Note that water heater insulation blankets have fiber glasses attached to some heavy plastic materials and this makes them unlikely to lose heat to the surrounding. You can also insulate your hot water pipes to ensure that your water is released at the desired temperatures. This way you can avoid overheating which would use more energy and money and reduce the life of your heater. There are several self-sticking foam pipes that you can use to insulate your water heater pipes. You should also insulate your cold-water pipes to prevent them from condensing in the summer. While insulating your tank, consider the TPR valve and the temperature control sticking too.
Fix Any Leaks
Leaky faucets can be annoying and while they may have small drip drip drip, these drips will ultimately add to your water bill so do not assume. You can end up losing thousands of gallons of water and your heater will most likely be worn-out too. Further, if the leaking water is hot, you are suffering double tragedy as you are incurring unnecessary energy bills and water bills simultaneously. Plumbers recommend that anytime you have your water heater leaking you should make reference to the information on this website to learn how to determine whether your heater is leaking from the top or from the bottom. With this awareness, you can easily know how to fix the leaks by yourself and you can also tell that the leaks can only be fixed by professionals. With this information, you can spare yourself huge losses from repair costs as you can take immediate action to resolve your problem.
Drain Sediments
It is natural that over time sediments can build up in your water heater tank. When this happens you will be forced to spend more energy and money to heat your water than you would normally spend. This can be worse if you use hard water. You can save a lot of energy by simply draining a few sediments from your heater at least quarterly. After all, the buildup also reduces the efficiency of your water heater and you would want to avoid replacing your heater time and again. If you can hear some popping sounds from your water heater, if you are experiencing leaks, and if you can hear some rumbling sounds from your heater, it is time to drain sediments. Make it a regular practice to clean your heater as the excess build-up of segments can lead to a breakdown. You can use a descaler as it is free of any salts, chemicals and it can help you clear all the limescale buildup in your water pipes and any other faucets. You can trust descalers if you want to run your water heater efficiently.
Set Your Temperatures
You can set your water heater to recommended temperatures to prevent overheating which can cost you more money. You can adjust your thermostat to the amount of hotness that you need to avoid heating it to temperatures that you anyway cannot comfortably use. 120 degrees is a favorable temperature that can save you some money but still allow you to enjoy some reasonable amount of warmth in your water. You must read your user manual to know how to adjust the thermostat. Remember to switch off your power source before touching your thermostat lest you risk electric shocks. You can also use less hot water to reduce the amount of work your heater does. For instance, you can avoid washing your dishes before they enter the dishwasher and reduce the number of minutes you take in the shower. You can also adjust the settings of your home appliances to economy-settings to reduce their hot water usage and consequently reduce the amount of work your heater does. You can use energy-efficient showerheads and install appropriate faucet aerators to reasonably reduce the amount of hot water you use. Less work for your heater means longer life for it. Another great option is installing energy-efficient showerheads and faucet aerators.
Some people cannot survive without water heaters. It’s one of the pieces of equipment that makes your life easy and enjoyable so you need it at its efficiency all the time. Simple things like adjusting your temperatures accordingly can help reduce the work your heater does and thus increase the lifecycle of the heater. Regularly drain sediments, insulate your water tank and water pipes and fix any leaks in your water heater to prevent breakdown and easy wear and tear of your water heater.
