Tips to Save on Water and Electricity Bills with an Energy Efficient Bathroom

Water and electricity contribute to a major part of your monthly utility bills. With an energy-efficient bathroom in your home, you can cut down costs and save electricity. Especially in the winter, it can prevent misuse of water and power.

Although the bathtub, shower, sink, toilet, and small appliances seem like they consume little amounts of energy, they decrease your home’s energy efficiency.

Here are some ways to tweak your habits and save water and electricity:

Keep Your Bathroom Warm with Small Tips

Perhaps it is your habit to wind down with a warm shower at the end of a tiring day. The energy that your water heater consumes is substantial, and yet, you cannot resort to taking cold showers in winters. Keep the door tightly shut to prevent warmth from escaping out of your energy-efficient bathroom.

On sunny days, you can use cold water to wash up and stay hydrated. Your skin and hair also radiate with a healthy glow.

Skip the Bathtub and Take Short Showers

A nice, luxurious soak in your well-fitted bathtub may seem like the relaxation you need, but when you do it every day, that’s when the costs add up.

Even if you fill your bathtub only a couple of inches, that is still a massive quantity. Instead, take a shower to save water, and don’t stay for a long time.

Use Water-Saving Faucets and Showerhead

Low-flow showerheads minimize the water that spills out during each shower. With these, you have the extra benefit of cost and energy savings on water heating. Prevent excess water use with hand-held or stationary showerhead models.

However, the outflow pressure remains the same in superior models, so you can’t feel the difference. Likewise, install efficient faucet aerators over the sink’s tap and limit the amount of water dispensed.

Choose Energy-Efficient Bathroom LED Lights

Sometimes, your bathroom might be too bright, and to tone it down a notch, you may turn off some lights. But, if the traditional incandescent bulbs are frequently switched on and off, their working life will reduce. Adjust the lighting options in your bathroom by switching to LEDs.

LED lights last 20 times longer than regular bulbs, even if turned on and off in succession. Another right choice is using CFL light bulbs that use less energy and outperform halogen and incandescent lights.

Don’t Let the Water Run Unnecessarily

Many people leave the taps open and leave the water running as they look for soap, shave, shampoo, or brush their teeth.

Whether it is because you are forgetful or still sleepy, this scenario may have played out in your bathroom one too many times. With a simple turn of the faucet, which takes but a second, you can save water by a significant amount.

Use Smart Ways to Heat Water

To get an energy-efficient bathroom, lower the temperature of your water heater to 120 degrees. While the manufacturer’s instructions on your water heater say that it should remain at 140 degrees, reducing it by 20 degrees improves its performance. Regulating the heat also keeps them from rusting the pipes rapidly.

Other excellent options include using a timer with an electric water heater so that you can turn it off automatically at night and peak electricity demand times or when you don’t need heating. Furthermore, buy a tankless system that heats water only when you turn on the hot water tap.

Unplug All Small Hot Appliances After Use

When getting ready for work, you may curl your hair in the bathroom, and in a hurry, forget to turn the curler off. Even when they are switched off but unplugged, they drain electricity and heat the outlets.

As a result, energy gets wasted, and it can cause potential electrical fire hazards. Prevent such situations and keep energy vampires from hogging all the power by turning off styling tools like flat irons, curlers, and hair dryers.

Don’t Use the Extractor Fan When Not Needed

An energy-efficient bathroom makes use of alternative options, such as minimizing the use of extractor fans. If you have a window, open it often to remove suffocation, and fresh air can circulate.

Extractor fans are helpful devices that control the foul odors in the bathroom. However, you may tend to leave them on for longer than necessary. With time, such negligence can cost you more than just higher energy bills. Besides, you may diminish their lifespan or cause extensive damage to some of its parts.

Make Your Water Heater More Efficient

Insulating your water heater’s hot water pipes and storage tank can retain heat for a longer time and warm up water sooner. But be careful not to cramp the thermostat, burner, top, and bottom. You can also think of getting heat traps for the water heater tank to enjoy energy savings.

If all else fails, ditch the conventional heater and explore newer and more efficient models. Buy an ENERGY STAR-qualified water heater that can save around 30% of costs on your electricity bills.

Get a Toilet with a Flow-Control Flush Mechanism

Modern toilets house a dual flush mechanism with two buttons that allow you to choose the water flow pressure. You don’t need to get a new one, but the flow with a flush converter and save water.

This device introduces a secondary flush option that uses cuts back on water wastage. It is easy to improve an older bathroom’s efficiency with a quick installation that does not involve removing the tank.

Choose a Low-Rate Electricity Plan

When your energy plan carries a high base charge and hidden fees, you face surprises in your mail. So, it is vital to read and understand the Electricity Facts Label document of each plan.

Another way to reduce your bill amount is to regulate your power consumption by monitoring it in real-time. Prepaid energy plans provide detailed reports that you can access online, from anywhere. You pay a set amount in advance to start your service and keep on using power until this value depletes, and recharge it then.

Pick a prepaid electricity plan at Acacia Energy. Get an energy-efficient bathroom and lower the power bills of the entire home.