While you may not give much thought to that hulking big tank sitting in a closet or in the corner of your basement, your water heater is costing you a lot of money. The average home today pays about 18 percent of its electric bill to keep that hunk of metal operating and providing hot water.
So if you have a $200 electric bill, that’s $36 every month just to heat your water. That may be better than it was 10 years ago when you paid closer to 25 percent on heating water, but it’s still a big chunk of change. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way.
To Replace or Not to Replace
Since your water heater uses more energy than any other appliance in your house, you should consider replacing it with a new hybrid water heater. You can wait until your current one breaks down — or you can get ahead of the game and put a new one in.
Water heaters have an average lifespan of about 10 to 15 years, and after about seven, they begin to show more wear. They may even require a visit from your local Blue Planet Plumbing expert to fix it. But throwing good money after bad is never a good idea, so if you’re past the seven year mark, think about replacing it with a hybrid water heater.
Hybrid Water Heater Benefits
When you think of “hybrid,” what comes to mind may be the car that runs on part gasoline and part electricity. A hybrid water heater isn’t exactly like that; instead, it combines the heating and cooling systems you use for the whole house to heat up your water too. While your old water heater uses electricity or natural gas to heat up the water heater from the bottom up, a hybrid acts like a heat pump, which moves heat into your tank of water.
Since you’re not using your power for just one use at a time, a hybrid unit ends up being about two to three times more efficient than conventional water heaters. Put simply, a hybrid unit works something like a refrigerator, only in reverse. Where a fridge moves hot air out, hybrid water heaters pull hot air in.
Where’s the Savings?
Hybrid water heaters, or heat pumps, may be a little more expensive than traditional water heaters, but if you are environmentally conscientious and concerned about the planet, as well as your own carbon footprint, the value is immeasurable. What you will be able to measure, however, is the money you save month after month. Your savings add up.
If you live in Asheville or Western North Carolina, you’re lucky enough to have found a Duke Energy-approved contractor to install and service your hybrid water heater. When you use Blue Planet Plumbers, you may qualify for up to $450 in rebates just for doing the right thing and saving yourself some of your hard-earned resources. Call today to find out more.
The Asheville plumbers from Blue Planet Plumbing offer knowledgeable advice so you can make an informed decision. They recommend the most up-to-date, cost-effective and environmentally conscious models available. A water heater replacement done correctly prolongs the unit’s life. Blue Planet Plumbing has water heater packages that recoup your investment in less than five years.
