Photo of the day
October 8, 2007
I’m not just a tree-hugger, I’m a tree-kisser too!
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1 | Tagged: treehugger, Vanessa Farquharson | 
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Water heater meter made better (Day 222)…
October 8, 2007
Have you ever spent all day cleaning, trying to get that funky odour out of the bathroom, only to realize after scrubbing every single surface that it’s not the bathroom itself causing the smell, but a dead squirrel in the wall? Did you ever switch to using Tom’s of Maine toothpaste, thinking you were being all natural and eco-friendly, only to realize some months later it has sodium laurel sulfate lurking in the ingredients list?
Well, something similar just happened to me — yes, the squirrel and the toothpaste incidents, but more recently something even worse: Here I was, using lukewarm water to shower, cold water only for laundry, greywater for my plants, and meanwhile, this whole time, my electric water heater was cranked up to 140 degrees.
Considering that the hottest hot tub can only go to about 112, it’s completely unnecessary to have all that water being kept so hot, especially when it’s kept that way 24/7. So I grabbed a screwdriver, popped off the bottom cover and turned it down to 110, the lowest it would go.
I can’t wait to see my electricity bill for October. In the mean time, perhaps I’ll write a few letters to the manufacturers of these things asking why on earth we need scalding hot water for anything.
Diagram of an electric water heater taken from this website
12 Comments | 1 | Tagged: electricity, energy, temperature, water | Permalink
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