Fabulous - Instant Hot Water
 

For four long years I have had an issue with wasting 5 gallons of water in the "cold" season, in the futile wait for hot water to arrive at the point of use. I would wait in vain for hot water to arrive in the kitchen after its long trek from the garage.
My friendly handy-man Phil, installed a gadget under the sink, and now "VOILA" instant hot water throughout the house. The installation didnt take long, is discretely housed beneath the sink, and is about the size of a "to go" cup. Sold locally as an "Autocirc Instant Hot Water Pump, it can be run on a timer, and costs about the same as a 30 watt light bulb to run. AH-MAZING!!

For four long years I have had an issue with wasting 5 gallons of water in the "cold" season, in the futile wait for hot water to arrive at the point of use. I would wait in vain for hot water to arrive in the kitchen after its long trek from the garage.
My friendly handy-man Phil, installed a gadget under the sink, and now "VOILA" instant hot water throughout the house. The installation didnt take long, is discretely housed beneath the sink, and is about the size of a "to go" cup. Sold locally as an "Autocirc Instant Hot Water Pump, it can be run on a timer, and costs about the same as a 30 watt light bulb to run. AH-MAZING!!


Sounds great - please share approximate total cost for equipment and install. Thanks, Jimmie

P.S. Please share handy man Phil's info

Will you still have hot water if the power goes out?

I googled it and it s around $300

Yes, Red Tail. Home Depot $280 thereabouts... Worth every penny.

Thanks for the info. I'd also like to know Phil's information.

Unles I completely miss how these run the pump probably doesn't cost much more than a light bulb to run but your power bill will spike up as you are continually transfering heat from your water heater to mother earth when ever the pump circulates. The pumps are a convience but not an energy saver. If this is not the case please advise me as I want one.

I put one in and after seeing how much heated water was circulating even with using the timer, I installed a wind up timer to turn on the pump whenever we want hot water. The timer came from Lowes and cost about $20. It's the one that winds up with a 60 minute time limit. Actually, we only wind it up about 15 minutes before showering or running the dishwasher. When the timer times out, it shuts off the pump. You will continue to have hot water as long as it is running. Oh, the pump was $149 at Amazon. I got the WATTS pump. Anyone handy with a small plumbing project can install it.

Most everyone I talk to in The Villages has the same problem. We have never experienced this much wasted water waiting for hot to flow at the faucet with any other home. I can only imagine how many hundreds of thousands of gallons of water are wasted every day in The Villages at just 2 to 5 gpm. A device like the OP had installed is not really designed to save energy, but it definitely will save water and your patience. I am guessing that the energy cost per month will be only about $3.00

Our circulator is also on a timer. It goes off at 11.00 pm and on again at 6.00 am. Our Handiman, Phil, said it will pay for itself quickly when the pump's cost is offset by saved water. It really upset me to waste 5 gallons of water to simply get hot water in the kitchen. In dry weather, I'd save the water in my garden bucket and use it on my flowers

More in our shower
 

Our kitchen is pretty close to our garage, so don't notice too much wait there. Our Master Bath is pretty far, so we just started putting a clean 2 gallon bucket in while it warms up - takes about 1/2 a bucket before we have hot water. Just take it out and water some pots (I have lots of containers) every day, or fill a sprinkling can if it has just happened to rain.

Of course, we're not there in summer, where I hear you are getting lots of rain every day.

I am hoping that when we need to replace our water heater in a few years that the cost of the instant hot water tanks will have come down. We have gas. I think there might also be a sizable rebate available from TECO as well.

One might think that since water usage is such an issue in Florida that they would just install these when building and pass the cost on to the buyer.

Over eight years in TV, no idea how much water wasted----a lot. 50,000 homes---a whole lot of water wasted! As we have completed the annual survey, we have suggested this be solved at the building stage and the cost just added to the purchase price.

I'm a bit surprised something hasn't been changed by now???

The choice is to waste energy (circulating hot water cost energy since the water cools in the pipes, the cost for pumping is probably negligible)) or waste water. No free lunch. Our shower is "20 seconds away" from the hot water heater - about 3 quarts of water. We use about 100 gallons of water a day. My guess is we waste about 3 gallons a day waiting for hot water. This is only about 3% of our total water usage.

We are on the same PAGE!..have the same "fugal mindset" ..
Your post will help me resolve / correct my need...
I can provide a few laughs how I have conserved the "wasted"water...
Can we put this set in the at brooms too? May put it there FIRST....my husbands has to have HOT water more than one needs for that cup of coffee...another laugh....I just have to turn my head ....watching the water go...:spoken:

Its not an issue at our house? Same tank for 8 years

When I go to take a shower I turn on both the shower and the hot tap at the sink. When the tap water runs hot I get into the shower..about 30 seconds

the 3.00 is for the pump, but now you are reheating the same water over and over $$$$$

I agree that energy is wasted heating the ground with the recirculated water. I have always wondered why thehot water lines were not wrapped in some heavy duty insulation prior to being buried and covered with concrete. Oh wait, I know. It will cost a few dollars more.

This may be dumb question 101 but is the instant hot water just limited to the kitchen faucet? What about if you want instant hot water from the shower do you need two gadgets!

The idea is to place the recirculating pump at the faucet farthest from the water heater. That way every faucet between the tank and the pump should have hot water fairly quickly.

Lets assume you would save 10 gallons per day with the recirculation pump. Over the course of a year that would translate to 3650 gallons. At approximately $2 per 1000 gallons, you would save about $7 per year in reduced water costs. To put this in perspective, my wife and I use about 100 gallons of water per day.

I don't know the cost of the electricity to run the recirculation pump and you will have additional costs to reheat the recirculated water as it will be continually cooling while in the pipes. Lets assume that the recirculation pump causes 5 gallons of water per day to require reheating from 80F to 120F. The cost of this will be approximately $22 per year. 5 gallons per day may be a low number.

I am making an educated guess at the number of gallons of water that would be affected by the recirculation pump. I can see several reasons to use a recirculation pump but I do not believe saving money is one of them as it is probably more likely that it will cause you to spend more money. Convenience, and water savings, do have a cost. I have known people who have had a recirculation pump and wound up turning it off because of the increase in their energy bill to heat water.

Ask This Old House had a show that explained the recirculation pump system. Here is the link - Master Plumber Rich Trethewy explains it all at around 17:30 of the show. You may have to cut and paste the link - for some reason I can't get TOTV to paste it.

Video: Ask TOH | Bulkhead, Recirc Pumps | Watch Ask This Old House Online | PBS Video

I would expect that there would be minimal heat loss dependent upon the rate of circulation.

However, that being said, we are all almost dead. Who cares about a little extra cost? If we can afford it, we should go for it.

I guess what I should have added, is that the simple pleasure I derive from having hot water when I turn on the faucet, is worth the small expense.

:bowdown::bowdown:

From your earlier posts, it appeared that your motivation was cost savings or you were expecting that an additional benefit would be cost savings. I agree that what you are really doing is paying additional money for convenience/pleasure. How much, assuming you actually care, can only be determined by examining your utility bills. I am glad to hear that it is working out for you.

Very Green Decision:coolsmiley:

There is no free lunch here. It will cost you additional energy to keep reheating the water and pumping it around in order to save water. So, saving water is "greener" than saving energy? This is a convenience decision. You can google this for a variety of analysis of whether recirculation pumps are "good" or "bad".

Shrandell, you go, girl. Aside from the convenience, I think we are in more dire need of water than we are of electricity.

Our shower water heats up very quickly, but the kitchen sink does not. I try to fill the dog's dish and water the container plants. But it would be great to have instant hot water.