Why Did My Water Heater Energy Use Rise?
As I'm sure you do, I track my energy use at home. I've got a spreadsheet with the data from all of my electricity bills since we moved into this house in 2019. I also track individual parts of my…
hot water
How Electrification Can Keep You Healthy
It's Thanksgiving week here in the US again. That means a lot of people will be spending a lot of time indoors with ovens and cooktops firing. I'm one of those people. We're having a big get-together at my house,…
Gazing at an Anode Rod
Most people in the U.S. have tank-type water heaters, and most of these tanks are glass-lined. Yet almost nobody looks at the anode rod, which is the biggest key to making your water heater last a very, very long time. …
![A Little-known Component In Most Water Heaters Holds The Key To Decades Of Service [Photo Courtesy Of Larry Weingarten]](https://www.energyvanguard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/new-and-old-anode-rods-1200.jpeg)
The Secret to Making Your Water Heater Last Decades
A water heater is a significant investment, no matter what kind you have. When you install a heat pump water heater, it's even more important to keep it going as long as you can. So how do you do that? …
Energy Vanguard’s 2024 Retrospective
It's been a big year here at Energy Vanguard. In previous year-end articles, I've focused mainly on what happened here in the blog. This year, however, I'm expanding the retrospective to include other stuff. I'll start with the blog, then…
An Improved System for Even Faster Hot Water
I missed an opportunity. You may recall the retrofit I did in 2022 to get faster hot water at three of my fixtures. It made a huge improvement, but it could have been even better. But before I go there,…
The Plug-in Heat Pump Water Heater Is Here!
The 120-volt plug-in heat pump water heater is here! The effort to bring these things to market began in 2018, and now they're available to buy. This technology has some significant advantages over the standard 240-volt heat pump water heater. …
Can a Water Heater Last More Than 15 Years?
We've been trained to believe something that's just not true. Go out and ask a hundred people how long a water heater can last, and the majority probably will say it's in the range of 10 to 15 years. Where…
Can a Heat Pump Water Heater Replace an Air Conditioner?
The most common type of heat pump water heater takes heat from the air and puts it into water. Of course, that's what all heat pumps do, right? Take heat from one place and put it in another. By removing…
The Top 10 Articles in the Energy Vanguard Blog in 2022
It's been a good year in the Energy Vanguard Blog. Counting this one, I've published 46 articles during the year. Of the previous 45 articles, I think the following might be ten most important ones. This is just my own…