Plumbing Questions About the New Home
 

Village newbie here.
Why is there a vertical pipe attached to the drain under the sink?
Second question: Why does it take so long for the water in the kitchen faucet to heat up? (We have a Gardenia.)
Thanks.

The vertical pipe under the kitchen sink is called an "automatic vent". It is used to vent the fixture because it is not convenient to pipe a vent to the roof at that location. All fixtures must be vented to facilitate proper drainage from the fixture. Most other fixtures are vented through the roof.

The time it takes to get hot water to any faucet is based on the distance from the faucet to the water heater.

A hot water recirculation system can be added to have hot water available more quickly.

Hot Water Recirculation Systems - InterNACHI

Yes on that. I installed one about a year or so ago and now we get VERY fast H/W at all faucets. The shower was taking 20-30 seconds to get full hot especially in colder weather as it sometimes goes just about to freezing around here (and even sometimes below freezing) overnight. All the "why can't you wait the extra 20 seconds" comments will come as they do in every thread like this, but my answer is "just because I don't want to." :) Up north we had a dedicated loop system because there was easy access to the crawl space but down here we have to use the "integrated loop" which isn't quite as efficient. This is the one I installed: https://www.amazon.com/Watts-500800-...81636251&psc=1.

Do you have a tankless water heater? They have a delay before you get hot water.

The water savings is another plus. You get a few seconds of warm water out of the cold water faucet if doing the integrated loop.

There are tankless water heaters that have this function built in.

We had a Navien gas tankless up north (yes recirc was built in but still had to run the return line) but don't have gas service here so sadly no tankless. As for the recirc pump don't give a hoot about saving (or costing) a few pennies more a month, I just like the fassst HW. :D The few seconds of WARMER water on the cold side is no problem (for us).

We have had the Watts Circulation Pump for as long as we are living in this home. It was there when we purchased our pre owned home.

We have it set up to circulate the hot water to the kitchen and the hall bathroom which is the furthest point from the hot water heater. We have it on a timer so the Watts is not circulating the hot water over night.

Word of warning......You must turn off the Watts Circulation Pump when you turn off the main water to the house. The pump is "lubricated" with water running through it and if the main water is off, the pump will have severe damage. We ruined the original pump that was installed when we purchased our home. Loved it so much, we had it replaced with the same model.

I certainly understand not wanting to wait for hot water. In our hall bath, it would take nearly two minutes for full hot water. Now, the water is warm immediately and full hot in 5 seconds. Nice!!!

There is a downside to the Watts pump. When you want cold water, there is a wait to purge the hot water out of the line so the wait then is for cold water.

Thanks for all the responses. We had a recirculation loop at our old house. I heard a rumor that the tankless heater installed here did not have enough power to support a loop, so it is good to learn that people have installed them.

Okay, I must make a correction. I looked up the links to what people used for recirculation and both of them state that they are not for tankless water heaters. Has anyone added a recirculation loop on their tankless water heater?

Does anyone have a ballpark estimate on about how much it costs to operate the circulation loop? I mean specifically: how much to operate the pump and how much more cost this will add because it will run the electric hot water heater longer too (essentially the pipes in your home are an expansion of the hot water heater holding tank).

I have noticed that when it is circulating, the floor along the piping route is warmer than the rest of the floor (we have tile, so this is easy to feel in bare feet).

Thanks!

I am seriously considering installing one, and I have 2 questions for those who have already installed them;

How many mixing valves did you use?

Did you notice any impact on your ice maker?

A word of advice to you and all new owners. Call warranty first for all questions. Some things added void warranties.

Another thing, be nice to warranty. They will go all out for just about anyone, but I suspect they too have limits if people have an attitude.

Although it's an older article, this should help.
Ask Pablo: Will a "Water-Saving" Hot Water Recirculation Pump Really Save Me Money? | TreeHugger