Episode 3 :: Hot water wastage

There are lots of simple ways to cut hot water waste and save energy, and still have all the hot water you need.

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Hot water is a cost that we often don't think about, but it makes up around 30% of a home's energy bills.

Cutting your hot water waste will save energy and money, and reduce your environmental footprint. It's easy to do - here's how.

Check your hot water temperature at the tap

Check the hot water temperature at the tap. If its more than 55 degrees it's unsafe, and you could be using more energy than you need to. You may need an electrician or plumber to adjust your thermostat.

Wrap your cylinder and pipes

Hold in the heat by wrapping your electric hot water cylinder (you can't put a cylinder wrap on a gas hot water system) and insulating your hot water pipes. Wraps cost from around $60 and pipe insulation is about $5 a metre from hardware stores.

For an older (pre-1987) cylinder and pipes, you could save up to $80 a year.

Check your shower flow

About 80% of all hot water used in a typical New Zealand household is for showering and/or bathing, yet many showers use a lot more water than they need to.

If your shower fills a 10 litre bucket in less than a minute, consider getting an efficient shower head with a flow rate of 9 litres a minute or less - talk to your plumber or shower head supplier for more information.

Find out more simple ways to save on hot water

There are many more simple things you can do to save on hot water, without compromising your lifestyle - find out more about saving on hot water.

Download Action Sheet 3: Get more from your hot water.

Did you know?

  • Across the 1.62 million households in New Zealand, if we all saved just 10% of energy used to heat our water we could save the country over $100 million every year.