What does economizer mean?
An economizer is, broadly, anything that saves — a person who avoids waste, or more commonly today, a device engineered to reduce energy consumption. The term is most at home in mechanical and industrial engineering, where it designates heat-exchange equipment that captures thermal energy which would otherwise be lost, typically by using hot exhaust gases to preheat water or air entering a boiler or ventilation system. First developed for steam boilers in the nineteenth century, economizers became a fixture of power plants, factories, and large buildings, where they can trim fuel use substantially. Outside engineering, the word can describe a frugal person or a cost-saving feature, though this sense now sounds slightly old-fashioned. Related terms include the verb economize and the noun economy. Practical, unglamorous, and quietly effective, the economizer embodies efficiency itself: it earns its keep not by producing anything new, but by ensuring that less of what already exists goes to waste.
nounA person or thing that economizes, especially by reducing waste or saving resources. In engineering, a device that recovers waste heat (or other energy) and uses it to improve efficiency, such as a heat exchanger fitted to a boiler.
- A person or thing that economizes or reduces waste, especially of money or resources.
- (Engineering) A heat-exchange device that captures waste heat from flue gases or other sources to preheat feedwater or air, improving fuel efficiency.
"The new boiler economizer cut the plant's fuel consumption by nearly ten percent."
"As a household economizer, she reused everything twice before discarding it."
"Engineers installed an economizer on the boiler stack to recover heat that would otherwise escape up the flue."
Regular plural. The plural is common in engineering contexts when referring to multiple units or installations.
"Both plants replaced their aging economizers as part of the efficiency upgrade."
That unglamorous box on a boiler called an economizer has been quietly recycling waste heat since the 1840s — and it helped make the modern power plant possible.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of economizer
Economizer derives from the verb economize, formed from economy, which entered English via Latin oeconomia from Greek oikonomia, meaning 'household management' — a compound of oikos ('house') and nomos ('law' or 'managing'). The agent-noun suffix '-er' was added to yield 'one who economizes,' with the engineering sense for heat-recovery devices emerging during the industrial expansion of the nineteenth century. It shares its Greek root with economic, economist, and economical.
How economizer is actually used
The everyday sense (a person or thing that saves resources) is somewhat dated or technical-sounding today; in modern usage the word most often appears in HVAC and industrial contexts, where 'economizer' names a specific class of energy-recovery equipment. The spelling 'economiser' is standard British variant usage.
Easily confused with economizer
An economist is an expert in economics as a discipline, while an economizer is either someone who saves resources or an energy-saving device.