But how often do you think about your water heater? You use it every day, usually multiple times a day. When was the last time you thought about how much energy it consumes or how well it’s doing its job?

Heating water can account for 14 to 25 percent of the total energy consumed in your home, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Choosing the right water heater for your home and regularly maintaining it can help reduce your energy bills. What’s more, you can actually get a tax break for choosing an energy-efficient water heater.

Under the new American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, if you install a natural gas or propane water heater with an Energy Factor (EF) rating of at least .82, or 90 percent thermal efficiency, you could qualify for a tax credit of up to 30 percent of the total cost of installing the heater, including labor, up to a maximum of $1,500. In addition to the potential tax savings, many utility companies now offer rebates to homeowners who install new, energy-efficient water heaters.

So how do you choose the right water heater for your home? Here are some tips:

The Department of Energy advises you to consider several factors, including the type of fuel available to your home (gas, oil or electric), the size of your home, the energy efficiency rating of the water heater you’re considering, and the annual operating costs of different types of water heaters. The size water heater you need will vary based on the size of your home, how much use you anticipate it will get and the type of heater you’re considering.

It’s important to know the differences between standard water heaters and high-efficiency models. For example, the Vertex high-efficiency water heater, produced by A. O. Smith, replaces the straight exhaust pipe found in standard gas models with an innovative helical coil inside the tank. Conventional heaters lose roughly 25 percent of their energy through the exhaust. Tankless heaters don’t fare much better, clocking efficiency levels of just 80 to 84 percent. The Vertex’s special design boosts efficiency to 96 percent, saving homeowners money on their gas bill and providing more hot water faster than conventional models.

Even if your water heater is currently working, if it’s an older, inefficient model, you could reap real cost benefits by replacing it with a more energy-efficient one. The average lifespan of a water heater is 12 to 14 years. If yours is approaching the end of its usable life, it’s a good idea to research your options and decide on a proactive replacement. If you find yourself without a functioning water heater and no plan for replacing it, you’ll be more likely to go for the quickest, cheapest option available – which might not be the best choice for your needs.

Five categories of water heater are now Energy Star rated, including high-performance gas storage, whole-home gas tankless, advanced drop-in or integrated heat pump, solar and gas condensing. For each type of water heater, the Energy Star rating can help you determine just how energy efficient a model is.

Finally, be aware that opting for energy efficiency doesn’t mean you’ll have to sacrifice performance in terms of how much hot water you’ll get and how quickly. In fact, modern energy-efficient heaters like the Vertex can produce more hot water, more quickly and for less money than other models of comparable size. The enhanced performance fits well into Americans’ busy lifestyles with high demand for hot water.

To learn more about A. O. Smith’s Vertex water heaters, visit www.hotwater.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Related posts:

1. Hot Water Heater Hook-Ups Made Easy
2. A Window to Environmentally Responsible Improvements
3. Spending on your home can save in the long run

The first thing you have to do is the most obvious.  You have to disconnect and remove your old hot water heater.  Doing this is pretty easy. You just have to be careful. Remember it is full of hot water still. So, first turn off your gas or electricity that is connected to that water heater. You will then need to drain the water from the old unit.  There should be a drain valve located on it.  On a gas heater, separate the vent pipe from the draft hood. The hood should lift off after you remove the sheet metal screw that holds it. After checking that the pilot light is out, disconnect the gas line at the heater and cap it.

Next remove the water heater from the water pipes. Be careful when doing this because the pipes may still have hot water in them.  This water is hot enough to burn you if you are not careful. You may need some pipe wrenches to get some of them off, but there should not be many connected so this step should not take too much time or effort.  You may now take out the old hot water heater and throw it away.  Many local and state laws have certain restrictions on the disposal of these, so check with the local authorities on the disposal requirements.

Now that you have the old unit out, it is time to install the new unit.  Move your new hot water heater to its new home by using a dolly.  You don’t want to “walk” it or drag it.  There are delicate parts inside that can be damaged if it is jolted or subjected to too much shock.  Position your new heater so that the pipes will easily reach it.  If you are using gas, you want to be especially careful that the gas pipe can reach easily to avoid any potentially dangerous gas leaks. 

Next connect the hot and cold water.  This is usually a simple process of connecting the new water heater to the same connections as the old water heater. Then you connect the third pipe to the main water line that distributes the water to the rest of the house.   Refer to the user manual if there are no connections, or if you are confused as to which pipe goes where.  This is the most common mistake made in installing a hot water heater. If you turn on the water and your cold water turns hot, and your hot water never heats up, go and switch the pipes. 

Next you need to locate the relief valve on your newly connected hot water heater.  The temperature and pressure relief valve is a very important part of your hot water system.  The relief system releases excess heat and pressure automatically so that your hot water heater does not explode.  It is a very important and a valuable safety feature that comes standard on all hot water heaters.

The last step in connecting your new hot water heater is connecting it to the power.  You have to connect it either to the gas line or the electricity for it to heat the water.  Refer to the instruction manual on how to do this. 

If you follow the directions there is no reason that you can not successfully connect your new hot water heater.  It is a fairly easy job. It just takes a little time and patience and anyone can do it.  It is simply a matter of reconnecting to the new hot water heater, everything that you disconnected from the old one.

Related posts:

1. Faucet Maintenance
2. What You Should Know When Shopping for a Water Heater
3. Plumbing – How to Prevent Frozen Water Pipes