When you are renting an apartment, one of the major appliances that is probably contributing to your heating bill is your water heater. Water heaters, whether run on gas or electricity, are one of the bigger energy users in a home. When you are renting a home, you most likely cannot upgrade or modify the water heater or your faucets to reduce energy use associated with your water heater. However, there are still a few things that you should be able to do as a renter that will lower your water heater energy related costs. 

#1 Turn Down The Temperature

One of the easiest ways to reduce the energy that your water heater uses on a regular basis is by turning down the temperature on your water heater. Most water heaters are factor set to 140 degrees, and many people never change this setting. However, if you want to reduce your energy consumption, the EPA recommends turning your water heater down to 120 degrees. 

Check and see what your water heater is set out, and if it is at 140 or higher, try turning it down to 120. If that seems like too big of a leap to make all at once, turn your water heater down five degrees and see if you notice the differences when showering or doing dishes. If you don't notice the different, turn it down in increments of five degrees until your each a comfortable and affordable water temperature level. 

#2 Change The Way You Use Water

The second easiest way to reduce the energy needs of your water heater is by changing the way that you use water. Instead of taking baths every day, try to get everyone in your household to use showers to clean themselves up on a daily basis, and make baths a less regular occurrence. Baths tend to use a lot more hot water than showers do.

When washing regular clothing that is not soiled at all, use the warm setting on your washer instead of the hot setting. Always use cold water to rinse out your clothing.  Reserve the hot setting for towels and soiled clothing, and use the warm or cold setting for your other clothing.

When you use your dishwasher, make sure that it is full. This will reduce how frequently you need to wash your dishes and how much hot water you have to use.

The two ideas above are easy ways you can reduce your water heater's contribution to your energy bills as a renter. If your water heater and pipes in your rental house are not insulated, talk to your landlord and see if they are willing to insulate the water heater and pipes to help reduce your energy costs (or go to sites of local plumbers).