I know a number of residents who have put this issue on the annual survey. As precious and costly as water has become in recent years, this solution or another should be taken care of when the home is built.

One of the first things we noticed about our new home was the loooong wait for hot water - both in the kitchen (just a few feet from the water heater!) and our master bath. In the Master Bath, it could take as much as a minute before the water was comfortable for a shower.

I installed the Grundfos recirculating pump above the water heater and it solved the problem in the kitchen immediately. Hot water in about 3-4 seconds.

Reducing the delay in the Master Bath required the installation of a second mixing valve under one of the Master sinks. Most people don't know you can add multiple mixing valves once you've installed the recirculating pump.

The Grundfos motor takes about 2 bucks a month at current kWh pricing. I'm sure there's a cost associated with heating the water in the pipes under the house, but I really didn't see a huge difference in our electric bill.

I understand that the Grundfos works with a timer. How did you set your timer so it only cost you $2 a month? How many hours a day is yours working?

Here's the numbers:
- Pump runs 17 hours per day (6:00 AM until 11:00 PM)
- Pump motor consumes 35 watts
- Daily consumption is 6/10s kwh
- Our bill shows 13 cents per kwh
- Daily cost is about 8 cents, so about $2.33 per month

The remote someone spoke to earlier in thread sounds like a nice compromise. I do believe it is a little bit dishonest to sell these systems based on cost of small pump and not mentioning the water heater. When we bought here I read in my material house had Florida energy seal approval. Pretty low standard if water systems not included. Does anyone know if hot water line underground are insulated? I suspect they are not.

I would guess (but not entirely sure), that they are immersed in the concrete slab and, thus, fairly well insulated :thumbup: Someone else may know differently :o

They are laid on the ground under the sand base onto which the slab is poured. At least in the "old days" of customizing the homes you could order insulated water supply pipes. I do not know what is done now, but I assume they use the least expensive and quickest way.
If I remember my old high school science classes correctly, the ground temperature remains at about 65 degrees or a bit less when sheltered from the sun and weather. That would be the temperature of your pipes if not insulated.

For those interested in a financial analysis check Ask Pablo: Will a "Water-Saving" Hot Water Recirculation Pump Really Save Me Money? : TreeHugger

Bottom line, you would save some money on your water bill but you would spend more on your electric bill. I like the idea of using a bucket to collect the waste to water plants. Also know that the grey water from houses south of 466 goes to a treatment plant and is then used to water golf courses so it is being reclaimed even if it goes down the drain. This reclaimed water is NOT used in the home irrigation but only on the golf courses.

we had a pump installed last month by Kiley, works great, the booklet said the cost of electric is about the same as a 40 watt bulb. less wasted water at our house in the shower and at the kitchen sink.

Thank you for confusing this discussion with facts.

I know a couple of people (not in The Villages) who have had them but wound up turning them off because they cost too much to run from the additional energy they use for the hot water heater. I do not believe they had it on a timer.

I think the major costs would be the constant reheating of the returning water. Any one have an idea what this costs for gas and electric hot water heaters.

I had looked into a recirculating system a few years ago. At that time I could not find a "system."
I like the idea of the remote. Should save heating the pipes all day.
It is also possible to put the pump under the sink, still needs wiring. Possibly using the garbage disposal outlet, if that makes sense. The other question is whether the homes are built with the pipes in "series" or parallel.

Found a company called Chilipepper.

They sell the pump and remotes together.

Great info ... thanks for passing it along!

Fred

Ok, if hot water is drawn out of the hot water tank and cold water replaces it wouldn't that cause the hot water heater to kick on more? A lot of home have gas hot water heaters. Don't know how many are all electric? IMO running the pump not the problem. When the water heater kicks on this would be the big energy use. Have they looked at the gas bill or electric bill to see what the increase is. IMO I need comparsion burning up one energy source to save another not really saving IMO unless the other source was minimal?