Have you ever taken the time to consider why most of us heat water for showers, dishes, and laundry to impossibly hot temperatures, only to add cold water to make the temps comfortable to human touch?
Whether you are heating water in your home with a gas or electric water heater, If you are using the method above (make it really, really hot only to cool it down) your local utility loves you—they appreciate the extra income from your unnecessarily inflated bill each month.
Consider an alternative: Heat hot water only to a level where you are comfortable taking a shower or bath without adding any cold water to hot water to achieve that comfort level. Now you are only using 100% hot water—no cold.
Most laundry loads are done on warm wash/cold rinse cycles. So less than scalding water levels should be adequate for washing clothes.
If you like the water in your dishwasher to be extra warm, simply activate the hot water setting found on most current day dishwashers.
Experiment a little: Turn the heat setting on your water heater to its lowest level. You may find the water temperature that produces to be very comfortable for your next shower or bath.
It’s reasonable you could save 40% of the cost to heat water in your home. For large families, that is significant.