WATER TANK INSULATOR

By. Megan Davey, Stephen Kane, and Gavin Wilks

Introduction This experiment was conducted to see

which insulator would insulate water tanks the best.

To determine a good insulator, common materials were tested as insulators on water bottles and compared to a non-insulated water bottle.

The materials used were Styrofoam, cotton and paper.

Background Information Water heating is the second largest

energy expense in your home. Keeping the tanks insulated would reduce

the electricity cost.

Community Relevance An insulator with common supplies is

wanted. This is good to the community because

this will determine if buying expensive insulators are worth it or not.

Buying a cheap insulation system could possibly save you a lot of money in the end.

Problem Our problem was that water tanks lose

heat due to no insulation, which would cause extra money to be spent heating it back up.

We tried to figure out in our experiment which material would work the best as an insulator and also be environmentally friendly.

Hypothesis Hypothesis: If separate water bottles are

insulated with Styrofoam, paper and cotton and compared to a controlled group, then Styrofoam will work the best as an insulator.

Experiment In our experiment we tested three cheap

insulated materials which were cotton, paper and Styrofoam.

We tested to see which would work as the best insulator.

Data measured: Temperature - Degrees Fahrenheit

Materials Funnel Plastic Bag 60 oz. of water Metal Pot Masking tape Nuova II Hot plate

Water bottles (4) Electric

thermometer Cotton fabric(3cm) Paper (3cm) Styrofoam packing

peanuts (3cm)

Diagram60oz. of Water

Styrofoam packing peanuts

Cotton

Paper

Nuova II Hot plate

Metal Pot

Water bottles (4)

Funnel

Masking Tape

Electric Thermometer

Procedure

1. Heat a pot filled with 60 oz. of water to 100°F using a hot plate.

2. Get four 16.9 FL OZ water bottles.3. Put three centimeters thick of Styrofoam

packing peanuts in a plastic bag.4. Cover one water bottle with the plastic bag

full of three centimeters thick of Styrofoam packing peanuts.

5. Cover one water bottle with three centimeters thick of cotton fabric.

Procedure Continued6. Cover one water bottle with three centimeters of paper.

7. Leave one water bottle alone.

8. Remove cap from water bottles and fill each bottle up with 15 OZ of 100°F water using a funnel.

9. Leave all four water bottles in a room temperature place.

Procedure Continued10. Every two minutes take the temperature of each water bottle using an electric thermometer. Record data.

11. After 30 minutes record the last part of data and stop recording the temperature.

12. Put all materials away and throw away the water bottles.

13. Compare the data, and decide which insulator would work the best.

Data Collected The table below is the average of our

data during the experiment.

Minutes

Average Temp. of bottle with

Styrofoam Insulation (F)

Average Temp. of

bottle with Cloth

Insulation (F)

Average Temp. of

bottle with Paper

Insulation (F)

Average Temp. of Control Group

Bottle (F)

0 103.0 103.0 103.0 103.0

2 100.6 101.2 99.8 100.5

4 100.4 100.5 98.7 100.0

6 100.0 99.5 98.2 98.2

8 99.8 99.3 98.0 98.0

10 99.5 98.9 97.7 97.1

12 99.3 98.2 97.3 96.9

Minutes

Average Temp. of

bottle with Styrofoam

Insulation (F)

Average Temp. of

bottle with Cloth

Insulation (F)

Average Temp. of

bottle with Paper

Insulation (F)

Average Temp. of Control Group

Bottle (F)

14 98.9 98.0 96.4 96.0

16 98.6 97.8 96.0 95.1

18 98.6 97.5 95.8 94.6

20 98.2 97.3 95.1 94.2

22 98.2 96.8 95.0 94.0

24 97.9 96.4 94.8 93.3

26 97.5 96.2 94.6 92.8

28 97.3 96.0 94.4 91.7

30 97.1 95.7 94.2 91.2

Graph The graph below shows the average temperature

differences of all 4 bottles.

This proves our hypothesis correct because the Styrofoam insulated bottle was the warmest at the end and the bottle with no insulation was the coolest

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 3084.086.088.090.092.094.096.098.0

100.0102.0104.0

Average Temp. of bottle with Styrofoam Insulation (F)

Average Temp. of bottle with Cloth Insulation (F)

Average Temp. of bottle with Paper Insulation (F)

Average Temp. of Control Group Bottle (F)

Minutes

Tem

pera

ture

of

Wat

er

Error The only error in the experiment was when the

paper insulated water bottle was left too close to the hot plate in the 2nd test.

Some water bottles had a slight amount more of water because we couldn’t measure exactly how many ounces were in each bottle.

Conclusion After analyzing the data, the hypothesis

was accepted. 4 water bottles were tested using

insulation to see which works best. The materials used were Styrofoam

cotton and paper. Styrofoam worked as the best insulator in

all 3 tests.

Further Research Test different materials such as

fiberglass. Test the types of insulation for a longer

period of time. Use more water so results would be

closer to an actual water tank. Run more trials.

Works Cited http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/www.direct.gov.uk/en/Environmentandgr

eenerliving/Energyandwatersaving/Homeinsulation/DG_195169

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2012/06/05/insulate-your-water-heater-156365/

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/improvement/energy-efficient/4217068

http://www.realtor.com/home-garden/do-it-yourself/plumbing/insulate-water-heater.aspx?source=web

http://www.cornerhardware.com/index.php?main_page=howto&f=ht063

http://www.carolinacountry.com/index.php/your-energy/energy-efficiency-tips/item/does-a-water-heater-insulation-blanket-save-money

http://www.rmi.org/Knowledge-Center/Library/2004-17_HEB5WaterHeating

http://www.uptenergy.com/how-wrapping-your-water-heater-helps-to-save-energy/

http://www.iwilltry.org/b/projects/super-insulate-your-hot-water-tank/

http://southcoastenergychallenge.org/insulate-hot-water-tank

ANY QUESTIONS?