Currently electrical water heating is the most common method of heating water on farm. However, there is other options available such as heat recovery, gas and oil boilers. Heat recovery (HR) is a very efficient system but payback varies widely depending on parlour size, hot wash frequency and bulk tank size. HR can meet 40-50% of water heating load without plate cooling and 20-25% with plate cooling. Payback on HR systems needs to be checked on a case by case basis.