I'm contemplating getting a residential hot water recirculating system. Two models available are the the Chili Pepper
What experiences, good or bad, has anyone had with such devices?
I heard they were red hot.....
They work, but they don't pay for themselves in water savings. The cost of energy to run the pump and continually keep the circulating water hot exceeds the cost of the municipal water saved virtually everywhere in the U.S.
So if you want the convenience, go ahead. Butr you aren't saving the planet or anything.
Unless I'm missing something, it looks like your cold water line would have to go directly back to your water heater. If there were any Ts in the cold water line, someone opening a cold water faucet anywhere else in the house could get hot water.
I have the chili pepper, I bought it because it takes 40 seconds for hot water to get to my bathroom. I soften my water so I got tired of seeing all that water going down the drain that I had once heated and softened. The only complaint I have is it is loud so if you have a house full of light sleepers or one person gets up much earlier than the other the one in bed is not going to be happy with it. The other consideration is if you have a septic system your putting a lot of water in there that wouldn't need to go there if you use one of these on demand type recirculating pumps. The chili pepper comes with a small door bell button that I mounted to the right of my sink under the lip so you can't see it unless your in the tub.
Good luck, Rich
Sounds like a freaking waste of money to me. I wuold think that you would have more important things to worry about then how many seconds it takes to get hot water. If you are in that much fo a hurry that you can't wait, then try an on demand water heater under the sink.
Take a look at the Grundfos recirculation instant hot water system, the pump is mounted on the hot water heater and a bypass valve goes under the sink to the faucet with no return line needed. We had a big problem waiting for hot water at our kitchen sink and it solved our problem. I bought mine from Circulator Pump Store in NJ. they always have them listed on E-bay under instant hot water for about $175.00. Not too hard to install. Every thing is silent as compared to Rich's description of his.
I looked at the web site and it looked like a cold water line would have to go directly back to the water heater. It looked like if there were any Ts in the cold water line, someone opening a cold water faucet anywhere else in the house could get hot water. Is that assessment correct?
I purchased something called ~Rediheat at a home show. Mine was cause the SO was nagging all of the time that it took so long to get hot water in her bathroom. It was connected to the hot and cold water lines under the sink. When called for it "pumped" the hotwater into the cold water pipe until the line got hot. Took about 3-4 minutes for the hot water to get to the sink. It was in a fancy box with an el cheapo time clock on it that would never hold time more than a day or two. I opened up and put a timer relay on it and use a push button to turn it on. I thought it worked fine but the SO was back into bitching mode again. ( I finally asked her to move out ) It worked fine for a few years and then the pump crapped out. Water is pretty aggressive where I live. HD used to sell a kit with out the cool box for ~$200.00. A decent Grunfous pump from the plumbing supply would do the same thing. All your doing is overcoming the static pressure of the water in the pipes.
This is a convince item. Nothing more. This Old House had an episode on a valve on the toilet. When cold it would use hot water to flush with. 2-3 gallons of water drawn from the pipes would be enough in a lot of place to get the hot water to the sink. Unfortunately you would have to open the wall and find a hot water pipe close to the toilet. Not a true statement in all situations. I have no clue where to get the valve.
Is the pump on a timer? If so, how long does it stay on and how long does it stay off?
It has a timer you set for what ever you want, In our case we have it set to come on at 6AM and off at 6PM
Does it run for 12 hours straight, or does it cycle on and off during those
12 hours?
It runs continous from one point to the next, whatever you set it at
Correct, also the plumbing loop will be heated to a constant temperature which is then radiated off. That is a waste of energy. It is a convenience but as you said cetainly doesn't fit into the "save the planet" category.
The plumbing loop is only heated for the times that you have set on the timer. Ours runs 6:00 A.M. to 10:00 A.M. for showers, washing, etc., and again at 9:00 P.M. to 11:00 P.M. primarily for the dishwasher. The big saving for us is a reduction of the load on the septic system. When the leach field gets saturated, it costs us $500 to get it pumped out. Happened twice last year. That's when we put in the recirculator and 1.6 gal. toilets. Cut our normal (no irrigation) water consumption from 6,000 gallons per month to 2,500 gallons. That keeps 3,500 gallons out of the septic system.
This is true...the savings don't come from the water reduction. The savings come from utilizing proper timer settings, optimized delivery to your specific desired temperature. If the hot water is delivered at YOUR DESIRED temperature...there will be no waiting and LESS cold city water will enter your water heater.
Efficient use is operating a recirculator 'only' during known hot water usage times.
Operating a recirculator continously is better known as a circulation system not a re-circulation system.
The cost
I dare to disagree with the above last sentence because saving water puts less of a demand on the nations water delivery infrastructure beginning with savings at the main water supply source (less demand=less water to deliver=less pumping =less power) and ending with waste water treatment plants (reduced processing / chemicals)
someone opening a cold water faucet anywhere else in the house
The above can only occur from a hot water recirculator which is malfunctioning as it suppose to stop pumping once hot water has arrived at the hot water recirculation pump.
"The other consideration is if you have a septic system your putting a lot of water in there that wouldn't need to go there if you use one of these on demand type recirculating pumps."
On demand recirculation systems pump cooled down water from the hot line to the water heater, not to your septic tank.
The chili
Sounds to me like you wouldn't know much about this problem, cause you've never owned a home large enough to have the problem.
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