Saved a bit on my Natural gas

[golddigger14s]

You guys that think they will go electric are not going to like this little known fact, last time I check 42% of the electricity in the US is made with natural gas fired generators. The electric cost will escalate slower but it will go up about the time you get your electric car and instal that electric water heater.

Also the cost of the new tank and getting it wired up will kill any savings. I would kill to have gas appliances.

 

[rickm]

Yea I hear ya on that deal.
This water heater has been in the house since before we bought the house in 1998.
One day it will quit on me.
It did leak for a couple days a few years ago and I wrote it off as the leak sealed up.

Knock on wood.
I was thinking something.
I could place a bunch or pipe in the attic and plumb it to feed the water tank.
Valves positioned to not use it in the winter and let it drain.

Attic heat is real and will heat some pipe.
I figured 100 foot of 3" would be 40 gallons.
Just thinking out loud here.
I only have about 30 feet of 3" though.
I will not do it.
But was thinking you could do it and just turn the water tank heat off completely.

Or get you alot of copper tubing and add to your roof and let the sun heat it during the summer and pipe it to your tank

 

[HiredHand]

I saw an episode of This Old House where they went to Germany. They were showing off the super efficient hot water tank. It looked like it was wrapped in a foot thick layer of insulation and could maintain the hot water temp for at least 24hrs before kicking on the burner to bring the temp back up.

 

[Shadowrider]

I saw an episode of This Old House where they went to Germany. They were showing off the super efficient hot water tank. It looked like it was wrapped in a foot thick layer of insulation and could maintain the hot water temp for at least 24hrs before kicking on the burner to bring the temp back up.

It's always been more efficient over there and in a most of the rest of Europe out of necessity. They have almost no oil & gas to speak of. Their motor oils have historically been a lot heavier on additives so they could run much longer change intervals because they have to import basically all their petroleum.

Been that way pretty much since oil was discovered. Basically it was polar opposite of the U.S. We have so much oil we could change it every 1500-3000 miles and not think a thing about it. They had to make it last. The democraps worship at the altar of Europe so you can see how we've gotten to where we are.

#FJB

 

[Podman]

I signed up for the 1 year special rate ONG advertised several months ago. I think it was for $4.54 but not sure and noticed
gas on the exchange was $6.72 today. So guess I have saved a little.

 

[HFS]

I saw an episode of This Old House where they went to Germany. They were showing off the super efficient hot water tank. It looked like it was wrapped in a foot thick layer of insulation and could maintain the hot water temp for at least 24hrs before kicking on the burner to bring the temp back up.

I read someplace that because energy is so expensive in Germany, senior citizens will sometimes have their electronics (TV, etc that actually draw a bit of energy when "off") plugged into a power strip.
They will turn off the power strip before they go to bed to save a little electricity because they ain't rich.

 

[SlugSlinger]

Back when the wife drove a Mercedes ML320, the oil change interval was set at 15,000 miles. I could never wait that long to change it so I would change it at about 5,000 - 6,000 miles. It required Mobil 1 and took 8 quarts.

We sold it with 190,000 miles and it was running great. The only bad thing about it was all the electrical gremlins. The door locks would shotgun and get out of sync. When we used the key fob, some doors would lock others would unlock.

It's always been more efficient over there and in a most of the rest of Europe out of necessity. They have almost no oil & gas to speak of. Their motor oils have historically been a lot heavier on additives so they could run much longer change intervals because they have to import basically all their petroleum.

Been that way pretty much since oil was discovered. Basically it was polar opposite of the U.S. We have so much oil we could change it every 1500-3000 miles and not think a thing about it. They had to make it last. The democraps worship at the altar of Europe so you can see how we've gotten to where we are.

#FJB

 

[SlugSlinger]

Here’s what FJB has done for the price of natural gas:
No end in site!

 

[HiredHand]

I appreciate Swampratt’s efforts to tweak a little more savings/efficiency. It reminds me of my family and the time in which they lived, always looking for a way to save or get more usefulness out of something.

Dad told me that his best friend in HS (would have been the late 1950s) was playing around with getting more mpg from his old vehicle. Well, Dave decided he didn’t need all the cylinders firing to get around town and pulled the wires and plugs from the cylinders he didn’t need. If he had to go somewhere that he needed more power, he’d just stuff the spark plugs back in their holes and reconnect the wires. Dad said you could always tell when Dave was out driving because of the unique sound. Dave turned out to a real out of the box thinker and inventor during his life.

 

[HiredHand]

Or get you alot of copper tubing and add to your roof and let the sun heat it during the summer and pipe it to your tank

I’ve seen those types of systems that were commercially produced. I think they even make pool heaters that use solar energy to heat the water.