Green Renovation - Water Heater Insulation
Monday, December 29th, 2008Your water heater uses almost 20% of your home energy budget each year. Depending on the size and style of your water heater, you might be throwing away a lot of cash. If you heater is more than 5 years old, it might be a good idea to replace it. Newer models are more efficient than older ones.
But, a great way to go green and save money - no matter how old your water heater - is to wrap it up. A water heater constantly heats up water to make sure you have what you need… when you need it. All day long. This is very wasteful.

Today, they make insulation for your water heater. This works just like your house insulation works - it’s a barrier than keeps the heat inside the water heater. If the heat stays, it won’t need to turn on and heat up quite as often. That saves you money.
I installed a water heater insulation blanket today and I’ll start seeing savings very soon - probably on my next electricity bill. The kit only cost $20. It should pay for itself in a few months. And I put it on in less than 20 minutes.

HOW TO INSTALL WATER HEATER INSULATION
You can pick up the kit at any home improvement store. They’re in the water heater section. There are several types and several R-values. The higher the R-value, the more protection (and thickness) you’ll get. I picked up an insulation kit that has an R-11 value.

My heater is an electric model with a 50 gallon capacity. The kit comes with the insulation blanket and tape to seal it up. I laid the blanket on the floor to inspect it and find the tab. There is a section of vinyl at the top that creates a tab. The tab will then be taped down to the top of the water heater.

Next, I wrapped the blanket around the heater to make sure it fit and to find the spots where I need to cut out sections that expose controls, valves, etc. Make sure you read the insulation kit instructions for your type of water heater and follow those. There are more restrictions for gas heaters, according to my kit.
I cut out some tape sections and used them to hold the blanket on the heater. All my cuts worked well and the water heater controls were properly in view. I used a long section of tape from top to bottom to create a tight seal. And next I taped the tab down to the top of the heater.

And that’s it. With insulation on my heater, I hope to cut my water heating bill by 5% to 10%. Not much, but it’s all part of the green renovation. Adding everything together and the money will add up.




So, we’re finally completely moved in to the new house. It’s been a crazy week and a half. But we’re completely out of our rented townhouse and into our new home. There is still so much to do. I’ve still got to finish the bedroom/office that has the bamboo floors. And, well, the list is long…

My wife and I decided to start our painting projects in our new house. Painting is never fun… it’s a boatload of work. And we knew we’d be blowing our whole weekend on it. But, when we bought the house, every single room was painted white. This had to be done before we moved all our furniture in.
After some research, I went with the Harmony paint line available at
We’ll probably use the same paint in our master bedroom. I might try a few other low- or zero VOC paints in other rooms, just to test them out. The Harmony brand meets or exceeds the GS-11 criteria for any paint used in an LEED-certified homes.
I’ve been shopping for a lot of eco-friendly products to check availability and pricing. I’ve noticed that it’s not very easy to find a green alternative to regular products. When I ask salespeople about it, I’ve been getting a lot of the same reactions… that look (or even the comment) that says, “Oh, you’re one of those hippie liberals.” As noted, it happened when I was carpet shopping and it happened again at Sears, Home Depot, Lowes, and a few others this past week.
Okay, so we’re only a few days away from closing on our new house. We’ve been terribly busy and it’s only going to get crazier!
Our house purchase is moving forward. We had a few issues with water leakage in the basement and around the chimney which were discovered at the home inspection. Those issues are being remedied by the seller before closing, so… hopefully we’re on track to begin moving in by the end of the month.