Your Water Heater Works Hard in the Winter

A few things to keep in mind

Your water heater is one of the unsung appliance heroes of your Sullivan County home. It’s relied on to provide all the hot water you and your family need for bathing, laundry, washing the dishes, et cetera. Depending on the size of your household (and the length of your showers), that’s a lot of hot water! During the winter months, your family will ask even more of your water heater—probably without even noticing it.

Let’s take a moment to appreciate all that your water heater is doing for your household and the additional challenges it must overcome during this season. Winter’s colder weather makes it harder for your water heater to generate hot water for a few reasons. Here’s why:

• You have a colder basement during the winter. Most basements aren’t as warm as the rest of the home. And if you have a water heater with a storage tank in your basement, that tank is probably in a fairly cold environment that is actively cooling the water in the tank as it waits to be used. This is called “standing heat loss.” And whenever the water in your storage tank cools beyond a certain point, your water heater then has to reheat it for you to have hot water.
• Your supply of water is colder during the winter. Your municipal water supply is colder in the winter because the ground and therefore the pipes in the ground are colder. That means the water coming into your house is colder from the outset. Because the water’s starting temperature is lower, your water heater must expend more energy to heat it to the desired temperature.
• You probably use more hot water during the winter. The colder and colder it gets outside, the more likely it is that your showers are getting longer and hotter. It’s a change most people make without noticing. Quite possibly, your bathroom is colder during the winter and so you take a warmer shower or bath to be comfortable. Or maybe you prefer your showers warmer when you come in from the cold (or before you head out into it). Either way, if your family is taking longer and/or hotter showers during the cold months of winter, your water heater is working harder to make that possible.

With all your water heater will be expected to do this winter, make sure it’s up to the task. If it’s time for repairs or an upgrade, don’t put it off. The professionals at Black Bear can help. Our plumbing experts install and repair water heaters.

Black Bear Fuel Oil provides the best heating, AC, and plumbing services in northern Orange County, Sullivan County, and eastern Ulster County. We’re big enough to handle any job, but small enough to care about you. To see if your New York neighborhood is in our service area, enter your ZIP Code here.

Contact us today to find out what Black Bear can do for you. Your comfort is our priority!