Our kitchen sink is about 35 feet of pipe away from the hot water tank. It has one of those single-lever faucets, swing it left for hot, right for cold. Because of that long run, I have to let the water run for roughly 30 seconds before any hot water actually reaches the tap.
So if I just need a quick splash of water and the handle happens to be set toward hot, I’m basically sending heated water down the line that never even makes it to the faucet. It cools in the pipe and the energy’s wasted. If I don’t need hot water, I make a point of turning the lever fully to cold before switching it on.
It might only save a few pennies at a time, but frugal is frugal.
Why waste hot water and get no benefit?
byu/RealCanadianMonkey inFrugal
Posted by RealCanadianMonkey
27 Comments
I wonder how much realistically you’d save, though to your point it’s a mere behavior change that ends up saving hot water (and therefore electricity) so why not
I personally just keep it on cold. No reason to send the hot water through the line if I won’t actually get to use it. But I also have a very inefficient water heater, so I try to use it as little as possible.
Ours is a lot further than that, two floors up and ot crosses the floors twice on the way. Wash hands in cold water is fine as is the odd pan. Frying pans get a immediate attention after use while still hot. Everything thing else goes in the dishwasher which is cold feed only.
It’s winter now, so the heat just goes into your house and reduces the amount your furnace runs, by pennies at a time.
Set your water heater to 140F. This is the ideal temperature for hot water.
Run the hot water in your sink until it gets hot. It is ok to let the water go down the drain.
It’s not saving any money. You’re overthinking it.
It’s just cold water. Just let it go down the drain until it gets hot. It will cost a few pennies more. It is well worth it for hot water.
PS: I suggest buying a tankless instant hot water heater for your kitchen sink. It will give you hot water instantly without the wait.
Same situation, but we have an on demand water heater and I hate the thought that it cycles on unnecessarily.
I really try to get the lever in the right position and only use hot water if the dishwasher is already running.
Debating getting one of those under sink 120v jobs
I dunno about scraping pennies quite like that but I do hate wasting water so I’m already mindful of things like this. That said, the real solution to a long run from a hot water heater is a point-of-use water heater. Personally, I think they are worth the additional expense for the ability to have hot water when you need it. More convenient, more pleasant, no wasted water, and they aren’t that expensive to purchase or run. At least if your water heater is miles from your faucet – my personal opinion is all houses should be designed with the water heater in the middle and all the wet walls around it so it’s not a big issue in the first place. My current rental house is janky AF and the water heater itself kinda sucks BUT it is set up like this such that no tap in our home is more than 8 ft from the heater and it’s great – I never have to wait more than two seconds for hot water (at least when it’s not been used up and taking it’s sweet ass time to reheat, smh.)
My run is just as long. It takes a couple minutes to get hot water. I only use the hot water when I’m about to run the dishwasher and also have dishes to handwash.
Especially in the summer, I save that running water for outside plants. No sense pouring all that nice water down the drain when I need lots of water for my flower pots on my deck.
I used to do this also, but changed to using the hot tap on a 2-handle faucet or middle position on a single handle faucet because even before the hot water arrives, the water coming out is a few degrees warmer and I cannot stand any more cold than I have to after this long winter. Maybe my cold water is just really cold…
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Unless you have an “instant water heater” that makes it on demand, and not one of the older style 40+ gallon cylinder tank water heaters, it doesn’t affect it if you used “a splash” of water. What’s 40+ gallons to heat up compared to “a splash”?
Now, if you have those smaller “instant” or “on demand” heaters, where it senses the flow and then turns on to heat up the water, then yeah, you’d have an argument.
There is a fine line between frugal and obsessive.
If you feel terrible, make sure to put pipe insulation on the hot water lines.
You’re losing trivial amounts of heat and energy though, efforts and money would be better spent on finding any drafts in the house for HVAC expenses.
Same, however I can’t get anyone else to understand the concept.
I don’t think it’s minor at all. I have a gas hot water tank. When I wash my hands with the hot water, it stays cold the entire time. And as I’m wiping my hands dry, I literally hear the gas fire up in the basement to heat the cold water that’s new in the tank. I started using OP’s method last year. I do see a difference in my gas bill. Just use cold unless hot is truly needed.
I wash my hands in cold water. Get my hands wet, turn off water, lather up, rinse, and dry with a wash cloth, wipe faucet and sink.
DollarTree Spa Soap does a good job in cold. Same with laundry, half an Earth Breeze unscented laundry sheet and everything normal cycle and cold only. Of course cold just means whatever temperature the water is in the line, it is more tepid than cold most of the year.
Technically you’re right, it is a waste and I did the same thing in our old house. If I washed my hands upstairs I didn’t bother turning on the hot tap because I could be done washing my hands before it warms up even a little. It saves the water, the energy of reheating, and my time not waiting.
You could argue in a colder climate that the heat entering the pipes can help warm up the colder spaces of the house and prevent pipes from freezing I guess.
In the grand scheme of things I wouldn’t sweat it. Yeah, it is wasteful, but not something people should lose sleep over.
I got some pool noodles, split them and used them to insulate my hot water pipes.
As fas as wasted water, maybe keep a jug by the sink and collect it for when you need to cook or to water plants?
I have a similar setup where the water heater is far away from the kitchen sink.
When I need hot water I will let it run but I collect the water in jugs until it gets hot. I then use this water for the plants and humidifier.
And here I am intentionally dripping both hot and cold lines in the freezing cold snap to prevent damaged lines.
Which, admittedly is cheap insurance against a very costly plumber call…
Maybe it is frugal?
I try to align “sink tasks” like brushing teeth before my shower, turn the faucet on hot so that hot water is up to the same floor as the shower when I turn on the shower
For everything in the kitchen, I keep a stainless steel kettle ready, it heats in 2 minutes, Aroma brand, smaller size, maybe a quart….so hot water’s always handy, I use it more than the heater water. In fact I often don’t turn the hot water heater (electric) switch (on the fuse box) except a couple of times a week. That keeps it hot for a few days, for showers, etc.
I live in an area of water insecurity. If I want a small amount of warm water to wash my hands, I partially heat a kettle and pour it into a basin. It’s not a financial frugality, it’s using the resource effectively.
Some posters are talking about saving “only pennies”. We save hundreds of dollars every year by saving mere pennies.