Geyser blankets - do they work?

hj2k_x

hj2k_x

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Like this one here.

Apparently, coupled with cladding of outlet and inlet pipes these things can save you nearly 30% on electricity, but just with the blanket it is meant to save 22%...For R69 this would pay for itself in the 1st month....

Has anyone actually noticed these results when using one?
 
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
it works!
 
Turbo_Aspiration said:
Combined with turning the geyser off during the day, we've seen around 30% savings on the electricity bill. Was a mission to get it around the geyser though
Click to expand...

Haha, so the whole 'easy DIY' bit is a lie?

I thought that it was established that tunring the geyser off in the day was actually counter-productive cos then the water has to be reheated which uses more electricity in the end?
 
hj2k_x said:
What kind of savings have you noticed?
Click to expand...

I have a very old low pressure geyser with no build in insulation that was hot to the touch, installed the blanket a couple of years ago connected it to a geyserwise control unit and I easily save R50-R100 pm.
 
Goobie said:
I have a very old low pressure geyser with no build in insulation that was hot to the touch, installed the blanket a couple of years ago connected it to a geyserwise control unit and I easily save R50-R100 pm.
Click to expand...

Cool, we have an old geyser as well - also hot to the touch. So it seems like a good idea then :)
 
depends on many factors. If the geyser have a lot of heat loss like older, not well insulated, unitstherewill be a saving.

If the geyser is switched off and only sheduled to switch on once a day, in time to heat the water for the whole family to bath and still leave some hot water for breakfast and face wash and then switched off again. Due to the reduced/lack of heat loss during the off period there will me a cost saving. If the heat losses from the geyser/pipes are are very small then leaving it on will make little cost difference. If the geyser temperature is set very high, like in my case, then the losses will be much greater and therefore costs much more. I have a big familly and the 200L+ geyser need to satisfy all.
The size of the geyser also plays a role. Its best to only heat the water volume you need so a correctly sized geyser for the family makes a difference. To heat 200L+ water when only 50-100L is required defeats the object much like boiling a full kettle of water for 1 or 2 cups of tea, so a good investment could be the instant boilers (gas or electric) at basins for hand and dishwashing and then shedule the main geyser for bath times only. Then a solar geyser also comes to mind. Geysers, stoves, ovens, kettles and irons are the real gazz guzzlers so working the savings around those would save a lot fortheextended families.
 
Also, it seems my geyser is not as hot to the touch as I thought - I take it that means it's quite well insulated then?
 
Well, we've just came out of a 36-hour blackout and me and the wife both had a shower last night and the geyser was still warm (about 34-degrees) at 18:00 tonight before the power came back. I was around 4-6 degrees during the nighttime and around 20-24 degrees during the day over the 36-hours.

Our geyser sits at its default 65-degrees and has a foil-air blanket I managed to score when they installed them at the mine-hostels over here. They were sold by the contractor that installed them for R180 each (excl. fitment). I'm not sure whether that R65 Makro-jobbie will do the same job, though.
 
lcbxx said:
Well, we've just came out of a 36-hour blackout and me and the wife both had a shower last night and the geyser was still warm (about 34-degrees) at 18:00 tonight before the power came back. I was around 4-6 degrees during the nighttime and around 20-24 degrees during the day over the 36-hours.

Our geyser sits at its default 65-degrees and has a foil-air blanket I managed to score when they installed them at the mine-hostels over here. They were sold by the contractor that installed them for R180 each (excl. fitment). I'm not sure whether that R65 Makro-jobbie will do the same job, though.
Click to expand...

Indeed, I am having some serious second thoughts. Also, our geyser seems to be almost flush with the wall - no idea how I'd even get a blanket around it...
 
hj2k_x said:
Indeed, I am having some serious second thoughts. Also, our geyser seems to be almost flush with the wall - no idea how I'd even get a blanket around it...
Click to expand...
Well to me a blanket with heat-insulating properties like foil etc. will be better than a material blanket. Saying that, the standard insulation around a geyser is a type of fibre-ish material. Perhaps you should Google some reviews (if available) for material-type blankets. I'll be worried about gimmicky products since there was a rather big hype around blankets a while back. I'd trust Makro a bit since they won't generally sell crap...they sell Homemark/Verimark though...lol.

Ours sits on its lonesome in a pan inside the roof. I got heavy the mo3r in installing it, since one has to cut all kinds of gaps and heck knowa what else to get it to fit around all the geyser mountings. Took about about and hour to fit the whole thing. The geyser looked like a space satellite afterward!
 
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lcbxx said:
Well to me a blanket with heat-insulating properties like foil etc. will be better than a material blanket...
Click to expand...

foil has 0 insulation properties. A good heat insulator will prevent the conduction of heat from one area (the geyser) to another area (the air surrounding the geyser). Metal foil is a perfect conductor.

My geyser blanket is basically thick "think pink" wrapped in a thick white plastic sheet.
 
Goobie said:
foil has 0 insulation properties. A good heat insulator will prevent the conduction of heat from one area (the geyser) to another area (the air surrounding the geyser). Metal foil is a perfect conductor.

My geyser blanket is basically thick "think pink" wrapped in a thick white plastic sheet.
Click to expand...
I'm no expert. If the blanket sold to a multi-billion dollar mining company gets their thumbs up, who am I to complain? It sure as heck kept my geyser warm for 36-hours in 14-deg average.
 
it seems to work.
Myself and buddy(flatmate) were going through 200bucks every 3 weeks. (partly due to his 20 min showers with his girlfriend, but i digress.) I installed a blanket around the geyser, which was a bugger as it was in the roof and close to a support beam and not to mention the pipes attached to it!! anyway...seems I've scored about 5 days extra out my electricity ....so it does seem to help....now if only I can get him to take shorter showers......
 
Goobie said:
foil has 0 insulation properties.
Click to expand...
It's a good insulator when used correctly.

Turbo_Aspiration said:
Combined with turning the geyser off during the day, we've seen around 30% savings on the electricity bill.
Click to expand...
That only works if you have an old geyser that leaks heat.

hj2k_x said:
I thought that it was established that tunring the geyser off in the day was actually counter-productive cos then the water has to be reheated which uses more electricity in the end?
Click to expand...
Should use about the same unless the geyser is leaking a significant amount of heat.
 
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