Hot water recirculator system

[John]

Hello group.. I have seen a few of these advertised, and was wondering if they really work..They claim to save you a bunch of water which is wasted by waiting for the hot water to arrive to the faucet..My desired use is for the laundry..The laundry room is quite a distance from the water heater, and being a water efficient front load washer, it uses very little water and on a hot water wash, by the time the washer fills, the water is just getting hot which then makes the washer heat its own water making a very long cycle..If these things really work, this would be a life saver as I could program the water circulator pump to come on when I do laundry usually...Here is an example of this system:

If anyone has personally used one I would love to hear your comments!!

Thanks so much everyone!!! John

[Steve Smith]

This will end up costing you more money. The site even admits that heated water is going to be used for toilet flushing and other such activities. This will add up fast! Not only that, but you'll have your nice hot water constantly running through uninsulated copper pipes. This is why your hot water gets cold in the pipes in the first place. Even when you're not home you'll be losing money with this system.

True, you will pay less for water, but you'll pay more, A LOT more to the gas or electric company.

Real hot-water re-circulators use a dedicated return line, and the pipes are all insulated very well during installation. I've actually seen such a system that used special manufactured insulated pipes.

The best bet for your washing machine: Run the hot tap in the adjacent laundry tub (if you have one) until it gets hot.

-- Steve

[John]

Hi Steve, I thought that too, but I read a bit further and it says the water pushed out of the "cooled" hot water pipes will slightly warm the cold side, which makes sense..But the system doesn't keep recirculating over and over..The bypass valve under the sink shuts off when the hot water reaches it, preventing the hot water from entering the cold line..I imagine as this valve cools it will slowly open, allowing some water pass until the water is once again hot..Now, if this system was to run constantly I could see it would cost a bunch to run but with the timer having multiple settings you could make it only run say, an hour in the morning for bathing, and a couple or three hours in the evening during washing/cooking ect times..I even found one system that instead of a timer, it has a push button that is mounted discreetly in the cabinet work and you push to activate, and wireless remote buttons are available to put in each bathroom..They say when you get ready to shower or whatever, push the button and it activates the system on a need be basis..I sorta like that idea..But hopefully someone here has tried one of these so we can see the results...I wish I had a washbasin near the laundry but I don't...The nearest faucet to the laundry is in the kitchen, but still you would have to put wasted water into the septic... Thanks!! John

[Larry Davick]

I bought an Laing autocirc under our kitchen sink a few months ago and it has helped. It's not the dramatic improvement I had hoped for at the sink, however the bathrooms get hot water much more quickly than before. The cold water at the kitchen sink is just tepid for a moment, then it gets cold, not too much of a problem.

They sell these at Home Depot, but I found ours on ebay for $140. For that price I thought I'd give it a try. When we re-do our kitchen next year I'll still use the pump, but I think I will put a dedicated return line to the water heater, and insulate all of our pipes.

FWIW.

[David Efflandt]

Properly designed and insulated hot water recirc systems, limited to the hot water system only, may be justified to avoid water waste for large systems. But frankly I would never buy a system that circulates lukewarm water into my cold drinking water pipes.

For laundry, I simply turn my washer to "hot" until the water warms, and then set it to "warm", but my water heater is within 10'.

[Bob]

Does the washer really take that long to heat the water? Hmmm, I guess I could imagine 5 minutes to heat a couple of gallons x 3 fills (wash plus 2 rinses) would add about 15 minutes to a load. My laundry schedule is limited by the dryer, but with a front loader you save drier time because of the faster spin...

If the time is really an issue, try using a point-of-use electric water heater at the washer. I've seen under-lav mounting units that "instant" heat with a kW or two for not too much money. They don't have a huge flow rate (without taking a massive amount of gas or electric) but you should still save time over the washer heating it up. The electricity bill will be exactly the same as you have now - you would just be using a beefier heater to heat the water quicker.

Bob

[Richard Nielsen]

"Bob" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

The RedyTemp hot water recirculator is the perfect answer for this problem. The RedyTemp does not recirculate continuosly and it also does not shut off at 97 degree's like most others, it is the only one with a automatic temperature control comfort adjustment capability. With the RedyTemps ability to run in auto, manual and timed operation the user can start it only when he wants to do a load of laundry. But, whats more important is that the RedyTemp does have failure issues due to calcium / hard water as all others on the market do! See a movie of a 10 yr old install a RedyTemp in less then 3 minutes. It couldn't be easier or more efficient. Redytemp has a builtin circuitry which constantly adjust pump operations dependant on the users temperature adjustments which are right on the face of the unit. Its attractive in appearance and is the undisputed superior product on the market.