More than likely many of you reading this blog could care less about domestic hot recirculation. But if you live in a house where every time you turn on the hot water you have to wait and wait and maybe wait some more for hot water, then maybe you should be interested. Most especially if you live in an area where water is a precious resource.
Even though water is not scarce here in Southeast Alaska I still decided to install a recirculation pump on the hot water for 2 reasons. 1. You don’t have to wait for hot water to wash your hands or take a shower. Now that’s nice. 2. It is less expensive to recalculate the hot water than it is to reheat the 2 to 5 gallons that would otherwise run down the drain every time one wanted hot water.
Maybe it’s because I have worked construction and maintenance on many commercial buildings over the years that I was already familiar with recirc systems. Anyway I knew we would install one in our house before we even started pouring the foundation.
I asked a few of the local plumbers here in Sitka and they tell me that they never install domestic hot water recirc systems in residential application. One plumber looked at me like I was crazy, one said he remembered installing one years ago and another guy said why waste my time and money. But, I’m sure glad I did install the simple little pump and the extra ½” copper pipe to make it work.
If you are interested in installing your own recirc system Grundfos Pumps has a great resource at this link: Hot Water Recirculation
This is a photo of the pump and check valve on the system. I used a standard Taco hydronic circ pump that draws around around 20 watts of power. Far less than would be required to reheat the water that normaly would run down the drain.
One of the great things about an eight foot high crawl space under the house is it let me build a mechanical room. Since the room is primarily plumbing I now have my own plumbing repair center as you can see in this photo.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Instant Hot Water
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4 comments:
Marcel,
What a great idea. Not only does it conserve water, which is a precious resource, but it allows you instant hot water.
Thanks for dropping by and leaving a post on my Treasures to Me blog. I appreciate you dropping by.
I have a post on my other blog about colony bee collapse, if you are interested. I know I didn't see a fraction of the honeybees this year that I usually do. How is the honeybee situation in your corner of the country?
I've had a recirculaion system in my home for 8 years. It's saved me a lot of time and money. For the first 6 years I went through 2 pumps though. They were costly, noisy, and did not last nearly as long as I hoped. I did some research and found a system called The Hot Water Lobster that is pump free, creating no noise. It's only $179.95, has a 10 year warranty, and is very easy to install. It took me 15 minutes. I have had it for 2 years now and am very impressed. I recommend this over any other system. Check it out at:
www.hotwaterlobster.com
Boiling Billy applies the Venturi Principle of water pressure. There aren't any moving parts so it's maintenance free. It's our way of harnessing nature's technology. When there aren't any pumps, solenoid valves or electronic taps, there are fewer breakdowns and, importantly, less energy is consumed.
Read more- Instant boiling water
Instant boiling hot water
Instant boiling and chilled water dispenser
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