Hot Water
 

I can fill a 5 gallon bucket with water from the master bathroom sink or shower before I get any hot water. I realize that my water heater is on the opposite side of the house, but that sure is a waste of water. I have been using the water I collect to put on plants but it is getting tedious. Has anyone with the same problem devised a solution such as some kind of booster?

My plumber has offered to install a Grandfos circulating pump to solve this problem. Cost starting at $400. Would provide instant hot water to any tap.
Still not able to justify this cost.
Try a Google search to see how it works.

I installed a WATTS circulating pump and solved the problem entirely. It costs $200 at Lowe's. Installation is pretty simple. There is another thread on here a year or so old with lots of info.

Don't forget that it is a waste of HOT water.

Once you turn your hot water tap off, you have five gallons of hot water in the piping, which will cool down and become the five gallons of cold water that you draw off next time.

Do you have space for a small water heater in your master bathroom? Doesn't need to be gas or "instant" - just a smaller version of what you have in your garage. Have another in your kitchen, and leave the main water heater off until you have guests.

water use
 

whenever I collect water like that I use it to flush the toilet the next time I use the toilet. I do agree it is a waste of good water. Old planning and design way that needs to be changed in the codes. I lived in San Francisco for many years and the drought had us doing that to not waste any.

We have same problem. The circulating pump will save water but you end up heating your slab. They are more convient and save water. I see no way to save energy other than a instant heater located next to fixtures. We have a past physics instructor online once in a while who can discuss heat transfer losses and maybe he is reading this.

It is impossible to get a return on that cost of a pump, and energy it uses.

What does 5 gallons of water cost?

Hot Water,,
 

Just hold on a couple months and you will be wasting water trying to cool it down......

You are exactly right. Assuming you have an electric hot water heater, it cost about 8 cents to heat 5 gallons of water (assuming 65F to 120F temperature rise). The recirculation pumps will result in water being heated repeatedly during the day. If you go that route you might want to consider putting it on a timer so it only recirculates during those times that you are likely to use the shower.

BTW, 5 gallons of water costs about 3.5 cents. I am not sure how the OP is using 5 gallons of water before hot water shows up. With the low-flo shower heads, that amounts to 2.5 minutes. I see hot water in 20 seconds in my shower. The worst I have ever seen was 60 seconds in my previous home where the master shower and hot water heater were on opposite corners of a large ranch.

I use my bucket of water to water my outdoor flowers. Win-win.

We installed the Watts hot water re-circulation pump on the hot water system (above the tank) about a year and a half ago and are truly enjoying the benefits. We have nearly instant hot water at the tap in the bathrooms and kitchen. I have been tracking our water, electric, sewer, gas, and amenity costs using a spreadsheet since the day we moved in about 8 years ago. I honestly can't see any noticeable changes in cost since we installed the pump. The cost warning argument, as posted here, is total nonsense. There is an easy to use timer on the pump unit and we set the timer to operate between 5 AM and 10 PM. We switch the pump off at the timer during our extended vacations. The total cost for this convenience is very small. Why wouldn't you make your life easier and more comfortable?

Xavier

:bigbow: Exactly...

We echo this 100%. Had our Watts installed by Mike Scott plumbing - along with a small water softener. Had these installed over a year now - and what a huge difference. The woman of the house LOVES LOVES LOVES the almost instant hot. Truly, turn the shower on, and walk in a second later. Turn the HW faucet on, and warm-then hot water in a second. Yes we have our timer set at on=7am, off=11pm. It's a small unit that installs right above the HW heater, totally silent running.

We too cannot/will not compute the operating cost of the unit. Can't put a price on her happiness and improving the quality of life. It does make a huge difference in our house. 4 of our neighbors now have them installing and they ALL love it.

What I know about hot water is that is usually the position I am in with my wife:D

Our problem was solved with a Watts unit. We have a wall timer at the MBR shower which we set for 10 or 20 minutes just before showering and it's good to go. Otherwise, the recirculating pump is off.

Larry at Mike Scott Plumbing put a recirculater in for us $200 or $300. It's on a timer and delivers hot water very quickly. Happy we did it.

To those who have the Watts system, how long does it take to get cold water from your faucet?

Can't really tell you. Not long. We have no reason to wait, we get our cold water from the refrigerator. Actually, we don't have a whole lot of need for a great amount of cold water. Do you?

Xavier

yes.

Then I would guess that your wait (measured in seconds) for cold water would be significantly shorter than your wait for hot water without the re-circulation pump. With the re-circulation pump the cold water coming from the tap would not be hot. It would be just a little tepid. You'll have to remember that in Florida cold water isn't really cold like it is up north!

Just curious, what would your need for large amounts of cold water be? We're talking seconds here.

Xavier

Our home in Mallory had the Watts circulating pump installed on the hot water heater when we bought the home. It works like a charm and the cost is very minimal. My plumber said the circulating pump uses about the same amount of energy as running a 5 Watt night light bulb every hour the pump is on. We have the pump on from 5 am to 10 pm. We had the pump "gizmo" placed on the faucet at the furthest end of the plumbing line in our house which is the hall bathroom and also at the midpoint of the plumbing line which is the kitchen faucet. I highly recommend this unit. No more waiting for hot water and it is not only a pleasure but is saving water consumption.

Very important to either turn off the pump or unplug it if you are going away and turn off the main water in the house. The water running through the pump keeps the motor lubricated. With the main water off, the pump motor will burn out. We found this out the hard way and that is when I realized just how wonderful the circulating pump is. No more wasting water.

I wondered about this...... Do you turn off your main water to the house when you are on your extended vacations? Just turning off the pump at the timer will keep the proper time but not damage the pump motor when the main water if off. Is that correct?

Very good question. It takes the same amount of time to clear the hot water from the line when you want cold water as it would take to clear the cold water from the line when you want hot water.

The question you have to ask yourself and your family is....do we want hot water right away most of the time from this faucet/shower or do we want cold water most of the time from this faucet/shower? My answer is HOT water (kitchen and hall bathroom).

Hubby has a problem at night sometimes when he takes his night time medication which he keeps in the hall bathroom medicine cabinet. If he takes the medication after 10 pm, however, he gets his cold water right away because the Watts timer is set to go off at 10 pm.

Yes we turn off the water in the house, even on weekends away. We had the Nova Filter System (TOTV advertiser) installed some time ago and he also put a very convenient, large, shut-off value just ahead of the filters. EZZZ-PZZZ.

Shutting the pump off at the timer allows for the timer to maintain the correct time and it doesn't run while we are gone.

Xavier

While on the subject of hot water, how many have wrapped their water heaters with a insulating blanket.

I rarely use hot water except to shower. I would have thought the water in the cold line would be virtually the same temp as the water in the hot line. But, you indicate that the water in the cold line is just tepid. Is that the way it is in the hot line, too?

That's what I was thinking. Just wasn't sure. Thanks.