According toEnergy Star, approximately 25% of the average home’s energy bills goes to the operating costs of major home appliances like the water heater, washing machine and dishwasher. So if anything is affecting the efficiency of your home’s appliances, there’s a good chance that you’ll see a noticeable spike in your home’s energy costs. Today we’re going to talk about how hard water can cause your water-using appliances to operate inefficiently and the effects that hard water has on your energy bills!
What are hard water’s effects on your home’s energy bills?
Most dishwashers and washing machines use electricity to heat water. These appliances contain a set of heating elements that are responsible for heating up the tap water that they consume. If your home has hard water, limescale can build up on the heating elements inside these appliances. When this happens, it makes it harder for heat to be transferred from the heating elements to the water. As a result, these appliances have to use up more energy in order to keep water properly heated while they are operating.
Hard water can also significantly raise the energy costs associated with both electric- and gas-powered water heaters. The heating elements in electric water heaters, including tankless models, suffer from the same limescale issues as dishwashers and washing machines. With gas-powered water heaters, limescale builds up at the bottom of the tank. This forms a barrier between the water in the tank and the flames underneath it, so the system has to consume much more energy than usual to provide your home with hot water. Given the fact that water heaters consume more energy than almost any other home appliance (besides the HVAC system), limescale buildup on any type of water heater can have a huge effect on your energy bills.
Although hard water has the biggest impact on the appliances we discussed above, it can also affect the efficiency of smaller appliances like coffee makers and whole house humidifiers. These appliances might not have a big impact on your energy bills on their own, but they can add up to a lot of combined energy losses.
If your energy bills are consistently high, get your tap water tested
If your home’s energy bills are consistently high and you can’t figure out why, consider getting your tap water tested by North Carolina Water Consultants. We offer free testing services for that will measure your water’s hardness levels and test for a number of other common quality issues. If your test results show that your home has hard water, installing a water softener might be a great way to lower your energy bills.
If you have any questions about the effects hard water can have on your energy bills, or if you’d like a water system serviced or installed in your home, contact North Carolina Water Consultants, your water softener and water filtration system dealer in North and South Carolina. We provide service all over the Carolinas, including towns like Davidson, Mooresville and Matthews, NC.
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