Tim_Toad_HLB
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The ideas keep flowing so I wanted to share some info about this device that I installed on our hot water heater just before we opened five years ago.
Our home's footprint is a essentially a 35' x 140' rectangle and the mechanical room where the radiant heat boiler, hot water heater, electrical panel, etc. are is on one end of the house. From that point to our kitchen and one guest room is over 100'
Its a recirculating pump that goes on the outlet pipe from your hot water heater and the one I put in is designed to save the average family of four over 10,000 gallons of water and the equivilent energy needed to heat that much in a year.
It took about an hour to install and because our well is metered, we have to track our water usage because our immediate area is embroiled in the longest running water rights legal disputes in the U.S.
We have to be careful with our water to a point. Guests aren't expected to skimp in any way on bathing or comfort and thats mainly because of the measures we take internally to guarantee we have lots of good quality water at their fingertips.
This device is so cool and nobody knows its even on except that during the peak showering hours that we've determined to be from 6-10am and 6-10pm, when you open a faucet and turn it to hot, or start a shower, you get hot water in 10-15 seconds even at the outlets furthest from the hot water heater. The bathrooms closer to the meachanical room get it even quicker.
It has timer on it for programming peak times or you can have it on 24/7 which probably isn't necessary and would seem to be counterintuitive to the whole idea.
Our home's footprint is a essentially a 35' x 140' rectangle and the mechanical room where the radiant heat boiler, hot water heater, electrical panel, etc. are is on one end of the house. From that point to our kitchen and one guest room is over 100'
Its a recirculating pump that goes on the outlet pipe from your hot water heater and the one I put in is designed to save the average family of four over 10,000 gallons of water and the equivilent energy needed to heat that much in a year.
It took about an hour to install and because our well is metered, we have to track our water usage because our immediate area is embroiled in the longest running water rights legal disputes in the U.S.
We have to be careful with our water to a point. Guests aren't expected to skimp in any way on bathing or comfort and thats mainly because of the measures we take internally to guarantee we have lots of good quality water at their fingertips.
This device is so cool and nobody knows its even on except that during the peak showering hours that we've determined to be from 6-10am and 6-10pm, when you open a faucet and turn it to hot, or start a shower, you get hot water in 10-15 seconds even at the outlets furthest from the hot water heater. The bathrooms closer to the meachanical room get it even quicker.
It has timer on it for programming peak times or you can have it on 24/7 which probably isn't necessary and would seem to be counterintuitive to the whole idea.