Energy Cutting Ideas That Will Save Even More

Utility companies all over the western states have sent out notices. Rates are going up almost immediately. Not only are they going up, they will be sixty to seventy percent higher. One operator told the News that it will almost double his already too high gas bill. His only options included cutting the laundry''s gas bill in every way he could and then raise his vend prices. He asks, ''What else can I do?'' That question is what prompts this review of these energy saving steps. Think of it this way. If you slit a three foot long uninsulated 4 inch copper pipe, then pound it flat. It becomes the equivalent of 144 square inches of flat copper. Having that line uninsulated is roughly the same thing as leaving one square foot of your hot water tank without insulation. The heat radiates from hot water lines at about the same rate as it will radiate from your hot water storage tank. In a typical laundry business there is actually more exposed surface on the hot water conduits than there is on the surface of the tank. Everyone in our industry knows how vital it is to wrap some sort of insulation around the tank. Now you can see that it is just as important to properly insulate those hot water lines as well. One of the least used systems for saving energy is insulating the exposed hot water lines and the return lines. Though it''s infrequently used, it is one of the best and most effective ways of saving hot water and thereby reducing energy costs. The plumbing system is never exactly the same from laundry to laundry. So we first suggest that you take the time to review how your facility was done. Are most of the larger hot water lines laid underground? If so, you can take solace in the fact that the soil is a good insulator. If that''s the case then all you worry about is the exposed lines in the tank room and those in the plumbing bulkheads. If your examination shows that the plumbing layout is a more typical overhead way of transporting hot water to the washers, then you will have a bigger job. Bigger yes, but not a lot more complicated. It''s not difficult to wrap if you select the right kind of material. The most commonly suggested, easy way of doing it is to use composite insulation pieces that are available from plumbing supply stores or from big box hardware stores. These are tubes of the material that are split to allow it to slide easily over the hot water pipes. You will need two or three different sizes to cover the variety of pipe usually found in the laundry''s hot water lines. Slip the insulation material over the pipe and either glue the tubes shut or use duct tape to close the split thereby keeping the insulation effectively sealed. If it is not well sealed, it just won''t work as well as you intended. Where the hot water line penetrates a wall, all you can do is leave that unwrapped, unless you have some carpentry skills to open then reclose that wall. If it enters the wall to rise through to the ceiling overhead, it may pay you to become carpenter enough to insulate that much line. For overhead lines you will need to remove the ceiling tiles to allow space to work. You will also need a safe ladder and maybe someone to hand up what is needed while you are up there on the ladder. In the plumbing bulkheads, the pipe sizes are usually smaller and the space is tighter. There the big problem is the faucets. How do you insulate around them? The answer is to cover the bottom with the pipe wrap, and leave the spigot ends open so they can still be turned on or off. The heater room pipes are pretty straightforward. Insulate all exposed lines. The pump body can be covered, but only very carefully. The pump motor needs air to ventilate and dissipate the heat it generates running. Some of that heat from the motor will be dissipated into the water running through the system. While you are there, check out the tank wrap carefully. How long ago was it wrapped and with what kind of material? Would it be time to do it again? When you are not as sure of the amount of insulation wrapping the hot water storage tank, it could be time to wrap your tank again. With that decision you will find that there are a lot more options in the way of insulating materials than there were when you did it before. Look at some of the reflective materials used today. The theory is that they reflect heat back inside, and they work. These are thinner and easier to use, and overall do a better job of reducing heat loss from the tank. If you did your first tank wrap with battens of household wall insulation, you''ll save money by re-wrapping with reflective materials. Essentially these are rolls of plastic, which can -usually be found in swimming pool supply stores. These rolls are very thin and should be applied with the shiny side against the tank wall. Use duct tape to secure. Some of us are not as trustful of science, especially with such thin stuff to work with. If that''s you, seal the tank with the plastic and then add a layer or two of normal insulation. That way you can be doubly certain using both the new and the old systems. While you are in the heater room, make sure that all of the appropriate electrical timers for the heating system are set properly. One can save a lot of money each year by not allowing the heater to run all night. Hot water rises and the top of the tank will stay hot enough for an hour or two before the laundry closes. What is the point of running the heaters for twenty-four hours when your operation closes its doors at 10:00 PM? Set the timers appropriately to begin burning heater gas just before the first customers are due to enter the laundry. As you are thinking about energy savings, don''t forget to adjust the temperature settings for hot water. When the heater''s setting is- -lowered, there is a genuine and quite beneficial affect to a laundry''s natural gas bill. Adjust the setting lower a bit at a time, so there is no customer shock. You can lower temperature settings slightly a few times, over a few weeks, and end up saving lot on your utility bills. The prescription for saving money, which you have just read, may be over simplification of a complicated problem. Nonetheless, it can be a life saver for a laundry owner facing the sky rocketing natural gas prices forced on today''s businesses community, especially on those of us in the laundry industry. The short answer is that we have to do something to survive and to prosper. Every dollar saved in operating cost is one more dollar on the bottom line. In the long run, insulation is cheap and the effort taken to put it in and on will be well spent. All the environmentalists think about -cutting energy as a way of lowering pollution and reducing smog. They say that they are saving the planet, whether anyone else agrees with them or not. We in the laundry industry care about saving all the money we can and we can do that by cutting energy costs. We are not doing it to save the environment, we want to cut energy to save and make more MONEY! And money is the name of the game and our basic reason for getting into the laundry industry in the first place.