dont you trust your UNCLE SAM anymore???
well, do what ever you want ,,
but if they saved 25 % heating costs back in the 80s
I would say its a safe bet they are going to save
something similar in the 00s too......
Try this experiment
if you are standing out in your garage on
a cold winter night only in your underwear,
you would be putting off a lot of heat.....
and your body would be burning more energy
trying to keep itself warm....
basically shivering your cahooneys off
just try standing out there for 5 minutes
and I think you will get the point..
you will most likely want to put on some clothes
to keep warm and hold the heat in..
NOW---
the water heater is basically doing about the same thing
and it is simply common sense that if you
throw a blanket on that heater you are going to
keep the heater from trying to heat the garage..
also if it is in the house, during the summer time when
you are trying to COOL OFF the house,,, their is a phase
change or battle going on with the heater too....
the AC is trying to cool down the heater and the heater
is trying to heat up the space is is in ..
it is a very inefficinet way to heat the garage or house
through the hot water heater...
so spend 15 bucks and you will get it double back in
less than a year.....