Tips

By POLLY FISHER, Special to the Daily News
Posted: March 12, 1986

Dear Polly: How low should one turn one's water heater thermostat for significant savings on the hot water bill?

- Ida

Dear Ida: How low you go is really up to you. However, here are some guidelines:

Lowering your thermostat from 140 degrees (standard) to 110 degrees will save you 20 percent on your annual hot water bill. However, if you have a dishwasher, 110 degrees may not get your dishes as clean as you like. Many newer models of dishwasher have automatic water heaters; they usually recommend that your hot water be set at 120 degrees (the dishwasher then heats the water to 140). Lowering the thermostat further (say, to 110) may lengthen the dishwasher cycle (because the water takes longer to heat to 140) or may result in less clean dishes.

If you feel that you need very hot water to do your laundry, you may not be happy with 110 degree water, either. I would say this would be a problem only if you wash many heavily soiled white cottons or wash diapers or the clothing and linens of someone with a contagious disease. However, there are laundry sanitizers available for these purposes (ordinary hot wash water won't kill all germs, anyway). Chlorine bleach can also be used as a germ-killer. For regular laundry, less-hot water is fine. In fact, I do all my general laundry in cold water and I think the results are quite good.

A lower water temperature is a plus if you have small children in the house; there's much less chance of their being accidentally scalded from the hot tap water. Water at the standard 140 degrees is hot enough to cause burns.

Another money-saver is water-tank insulation. You can buy an insulating jacket to wrap around the hot water tank. You can also wrap your hot water pipes with foam jackets.

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