We all know what it feels like waking up early in the morning: still sleepy, groggy, and impatient for the shower to heat up. Yes, we’ve all been there, it’s very frustrating waiting for that hot water. However, have any of us stopped to think that, during that early morning period, what happens to the +2-3 gallons of water that runs down the drain during our wait?
Imagine those gallons of water being wasted, multiplied by an average household that takes four showers per day, then multiply that over a subdivision of 300 homes, a community can have millions of gallons of water go down the drain and into the wastewater system every single year.
Luckily for us, we live in a world of technology and that technology can help us conserve now. What I am referring to is hot water recirculation. Actually, this technology is not that new, hospitals and hotels have been using hot water recirculation for a long time now to give their guests almost instant hot water at the tap. This same technology has now made it to the single family home.
With hot water recirculation, a pump continuously keeps the flow of hot water in the hot water supply line of your home. Without the recirculation, unused hot water in the line cools and must be evacuated before hot water from hot water heater can reach the desired faucet. As a result, gallons of water are wasted – and so is your time.
A typical hot water system usually is “always on”, and even though the pump uses little energy, our goal is to try to conserve as much as possible. To that end, I‘ve come across this Metlund D’Mand System
that can be adapted to a motion sensor. I have a sensor installed at the vanity of each sink and as the user approaches the sink, it activates the pump. If the pump detects that the water in the line is not hot, only then does it actually starts pumping. With my hot water tank in the basement, and with my furthest sink in the master bath on the second floor takes about 10 secs to begin feeling the hot water versus about 3 minutes!
