[bobnyce]

Originally Posted by waltwl

I'm thinking of installing pump for circulating the hot water. Would like to know from those that had it install if it was worth it and would you do it again.. Also who installed yours. Thanks

Finally installed one last year. Works great but you need a timer or electric bill goes very hidh. Set it for those times of day you need instant warm water in your room farthest from water heater.

[Lazydaze]

Absolutely a great investment! Chronic problem in the Villages’ homes. You waste so much water waiting for it to be hot. You won’t regret the purchase...

[Tom M]

Love my recirculating hot water. The further the distance from hot water heater, the more you'll like it. Hadn't thought of putting it on a timer though - good idea (no need to have it running at 2am - not that it runs constantly, there is a thermostat on it).

[davem4616]

Yes do it.

Because of the design of our home we'd run a good half gallon of lukewarm water from the hot faucet at the kitchen sink before it was hot enough to do the dishes by hand. We'd also run it again before starting the dish washer so that the water coming in to the dishwasher would be hot from the start. Little to any noticeable cost increase in electricity to continually circulate hot water through the line throughout the house....we have the circulation on a timer...It starts at 7am and stops at 8pm.
Just eliminating the frustration of waiting for the hot water to come was worth the price of the install.
You'll need to have an electrician install an outlet over your hot water heater...and a plumber will install the pump there as well.
We used Mike Hayes for the electrical...forget which plumber we used, they provided the circulator

[davem4616]

Originally Posted by Villages Kahuna

you’ll incur a significant extra expense for the constant heating and recirculating.

.

significant extra expense???

we had a constant recirculating pump installed on the hot water line and the operational cost is hardly noticeable

but what ever the cost, the fact that I no longer have to listen to my wife complaining about the hot water taking so long was and is worth every cent

[IvorT]

I think the problem originates with the house designers. We did The Lifestyle program, last year. Very nice house, but the master bath was about 50 feet from the heater in the garage. It took 10 minutes to get a hot shower. The location of the heater, then became an important criteria, for the house we eventually bought.

[Giolinh]

Originally Posted by waltwl

I'm thinking of installing pump for circulating the hot water. Would like to know from those that had it install if it was worth it and would you do it again.. Also who installed yours. Thanks

Do it now-Best idea yet--I have tankless with pump--enjoy the service and savings plus safety with tankless-

[MOGUY]

We have a Wats brand recirculating pump with a built in mechanical timer. We like it very much, we have no regrets, and have recommended them to friends who also added them and like them. We know we are saving lots of water, and also saving $ on our sewer bill, which is calculated on water usage. These only works with hot water heaters with tanks, not with instant hot water systems. Be sure you have an electrical outlet near your hot water heater to plug in the pump. If you don't, you will need to add an outlet, which may require that you hire an electrician. I installed our pump and outlet with a buddy's help. We did not see a noticeable change in our electric bill after we installed our pump. To save energy, I turn off the breaker for our hot water heater and the recirculating pump when we leave town. This requires that I reset the time on the timer when we return home, which is no big deal. I may add a smart outlet so I can control the operation of the pump via the Smart Life App. If I do this, I'll set the pins on the mechanical timer to 'on', so it won't matter if the mechanical timer's clock time is inaccurate.

[rjm1cc]

Originally Posted by Choro&Swing

Here’s a clear YouTube video from Home Depot on how these things work and how to install one.

How to Install a Hot Water Recirculating System | The Home Depot - YouTube

Let’s say my kitchen sink is twenty feet from my hot water heater. My shower (and master bath sink—for easy connection, as the shower pipes are buried in the wall) is forty feet. I use the shower once a day. I use the kitchen faucet many times a day. They have separate pipes. I don’t think this gadget will heat them both. If I connect the bypass valve to the master bath water lines, my shower water will be hot in seconds, but my kitchen sink water will be as slow to heat as ever. If I connect the bypass valve to the kitchen sink water lines, I’ll get almost instant hot water in the kitchen whenever I want it quick, but the shower water will heat up slowly (once a day).

Any guidance?

Install a value on each line. You have identified the problem.

[Marshaw]

Originally Posted by TCLaD

Had Kiley and Sons plumbing do ours last month. Has a timer and can set it to run several times a day if you want. They were quick, efficient and took about an hour.

What did they charge?

[EdFNJ]

Originally Posted by Marshaw

What did they charge?

My sister had hers done and IIRC she was charged $500, same Watts brand recirculating pump with a built in mechanical timer we have. The pump is $200 at Home Depot (less any discount or coupon-coupons easy to find) so basically her guy charged $300 for the install. IMO that was a lot for an under 1hr job. Took me 2hrs since it was a DIY and I had to run to Lowes to get fresh cement. You do need a nearby electrical outlet.

[cypress]

Do these units send the cool water in the hot water lines out through the cold water lines when replacing with hot. If that is the case would we be drinking water from the water heater?

[JerryP]

Originally Posted by cypress

Do these units send the cool water in the hot water lines out through the cold water lines when replacing with hot. If that is the case would we be drinking water from the water heater?

Yes.

[EdFNJ]

Originally Posted by cypress

Do these units send the cool water in the hot water lines out through the cold water lines when replacing with hot. If that is the case would we be drinking water from the water heater?

Originally Posted by JerryP

Yes.

Only for seconds then (if the HW is of concern) it's gone.

If you let the water run for 10 seconds there is no more tepid water in the cold line. I'm not worried about the minimal electricity used or 10 sec of tepid water from the faucet or saving a few cups of water. just the convenience. The water goes back to full cold in a matter of seconds after initial turn on.

This is a detailed explanation I found online:


The little bypass valve installed at the farthest sink has a thermostat valve inside that opens and closes depending on the temp. of the water. The pump located at the water heater forces the hot water into the cold line. Once the temp. is reached the bypass closes. So what will happen is when you first open the cold side you will get a small amount of warm water. The common area between the hot and cold lines is the water heater itself. so what is happening when the pump is on is the unit is pushing the water in a circle basically. Saves water. Only trouble is in a tankless type heater you loose your savings in having the heater since as long as the pump is pushing water the heater will be firing were as a tank type heater will only fire up once the content of the heater is tempered down to cause the thermostat to fire up. A tankless heater is not fired up using a thermostat but a Flow control valve/sensor. A tankless heater if you have a person that has a habit of running the water very low the heater generally will not fire up. You have to turn the water up higher and than close it down.

[RickThole]

We put one in and had a timer on it. It worked but our Electric bill went higher