Tips to Save Money on Hot Water Usage

Whether you’re building your household budget or trying to deal with the rising costs of living, hot water usage is probably on your list. Thankfully, it’s not one of the cuts you’ll need to make. Hot water is not just a modern convenience – it’s a necessity for life. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways you can save money on the hot water you and your family use every day. Here are a few tips to get you started.

1. Use Water When Electricity Is Most Affordable

Throughout much of the UK, electric rates are lowest late at night and early in the morning. Use this to your advantage. Take a moment to study your water usage. What accounts for most of your hot water needs? For many families, it’s bathing, but for yours, it could be laundry or washing the dishes.

Now, which of those tasks can be moved to late night or early morning hours? With a little bit of schedule rearranging, you can save a surprising amount of money and not have to reduce your hot water usage at all.

2. Adjust Your Thermostat

The thermostat is responsible for regulating the temperature of your water heater (or boiler if you have a connected system). The government recommends setting your thermostat somewhere between 60 and 65 degrees C to prevent bacteria from thriving, but many families keep it set much higher. Reducing your temperature, even by just a few degrees, can affect how much fuel you burn to heat water in the first place.

It can be challenging to connect specific thermostat temperatures with the water temperature you experience out of the tap. Our recommendation is to experiment with yours a bit. Knock your temp down to 60 degrees C and see how that works for you. If it’s too cool, you can bump it up a little bit at a time until you find a temperature that’s comfortable but not so high that you’re paying a tonne for energy.

3. Bleed Your Radiators

If your water heater is connected to your home’s heating system, bleeding your radiators can help reduce your costs. This removes air that can get trapped in the system and prevents water from circulating efficiently. Not only does that affect the temperature of your home and your water, but it puts additional strain on the system, which can lead to premature breakdown.

4. Get a Professional Assessment

If you’ve tried several options to save money on hot water usage but aren’t seeing much in the way of results, a professional assessment might be in order. Working with a specialist can give you insights into your water usage, equipment inefficiency, and other factors that affect what you pay for hot water throughout the year.

At EasyFlow, our experts can inspect your system, analyse usage patterns, and make informed recommendations. For instance, if you have an old-style vented cylinder, swapping to a modern unvented cylinder could save you money in the long term, but can also improve your water pressure and overall usage experience.