Water Heater Radiant Barrier: Reasons Every Home Needs A Water Heater Blanket
It’s that time of year again. The cold winter winds are just around the corner and so are those huge heating bills, especially if you live an area that has long and brutal winter nights. You have gone around the house and caulked, taped, insulated and plastic covered everything that uses energy except the family pet!
But if you are like most homeowners, you have forgotten one of the biggest users of power in the average home: the domestic water heater. Hot water heaters are used every single day and account for 20% or more of the average household’s utility bill.
Yes, twenty percent! Depending on how much hot water your family uses, this can climb to a large amount of money over a long winter season. Especially, if your family is uses a heat pump or electric baseboard heating. This is why learning to use a water heater radiant barrier is so very important.
What is a water heater radiant barrier?
Electric water heaters are actually very simple devices. They have 2 heater elements (one top and one bottom) that are submersed inside a 30-80 gallon water tank. The bottom element does the bulk of hot water heating. But if you run the clothes waster on several times in a row or run the tub full, the top element activates in order to heat up the incoming cold water faster.
Most modern units have insulation surrounding the internal water storage tank, in order to maintain the preset temperature. But even the best of insulated heaters can’t compete with a bitterly cold corner in a just-above-freezing basement. Heat loss is unavoidable.
So the harder a water heater has to work to keep its water hot, the more power it uses. But by adding on supplemental insulation or a water heater radiant barrier, you can help your heater work more effectively.
A water jacket basically surrounds the outside of the water tank, and eliminates heat loss and protects the stored water from cold temperatures. This can cut down on heat losses by 25 to 45%. This can in turn save you as much as 9% on your next water heating bill.
As general rule the more insulation or the thicker the tank blanket or jacket is the better. Newer water heaters have R-value (insulation) ratings from R-8 to R-24. But basically if your heater is not an R-24 then you probably need to add a water heater radiant barrier. If your heater it too old to have a rating, just touch it. If it feels warm, you are losing heat and you need a the barrier as soon as possible.
Choosing one is actually fairly easy. First you want one that saves as much heat as possible, but doesn’t cost you a bundle of money. After all the purpose of a water tank blanket is to save as much as possible.
Now most home supply centers and hardware stores sell precut water heater radiant barriers very inexpensively. But most of these only have R-6 or R-8 ratings. For very cold climates or houses where the water heater is located in a colder corner, you probably need one with a higher R-value.
Understand that you get what you pay for with a water heater radiant barrier, but doesn’t it make sense to pay a little bit more for a higher rated water heater jacket now, than to lose thousands in heating bills later?
