Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Jan 02, 2009 11:51 pm I am thinking about adding one of these into our house for 3 reasons.
1. doing our bit for the environment 2. saving a few dollars on water each year 3. the goverment will give us a few $$$ to put it in. The hot water can take up to 1 1/2 minuites to get up to temperature in the kitchen and thats around 14-15 litres wasted. The bathrooms also take around 1 minute(ish). This, in my opinion, is a waste of water and money. I am looking at a system that will pump back into my cold water (retrofit) and that works off a timer. Ie it starts from around 6am to 8am and then again at night. Has anyone got one? Do they make them with timers? If they only use buttons can I have the buttons in 2 points (ie one in the kitchen and 1 upstairs?) Here is some info I have found so far. http://www.ecosmart.com.au/water_guardian.html http://www.everwater.com.au/?View=1_4 http://www.dux.com.au/recirculation.htm Re: hot water recirculator - anyone got one? 2Jan 03, 2009 9:14 am I'm interested in this too. I could fill several buckets before the hot water in the kitchen kicks in. And the kids' bathroom is slow too.
Does anyone know - is it simply due to the water having to travel a long way through big houses, or is it because of plumbing being done differently nowadays? We never had this problem before - hot water would only take a few seconds to come through in all the (small) older homes we lived in. Re: hot water recirculator - anyone got one? 3Jan 03, 2009 9:19 am It is because of the continual flow hot water services. I would prefer to have the tank system as you don't have to wait 2 mins for hot water, don't lose any pressure and you won't run out of water if you have a large enough tank. Re: hot water recirculator - anyone got one? 4Jan 03, 2009 12:14 pm kek Does anyone know - is it simply due to the water having to travel a long way through big houses, or is it because of plumbing being done differently nowadays? A combination of both I think. Out current rental is small and old with a tank system located in the laundry and, as you would expect, the hot water comes through to the laundry almost immediately; however, in other rooms it can take up to 30 secs. Matt, I think your on the money with what you're looking at. We went with the Rinnai controllers (two small kids) but I wish we had invested in the Rinnai Smartstart instead (and we haven't even moved in yet). Will now have to look at retrofitting as well after we move in. Good luck with your research. 'We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.' - Winston Churchill Re: hot water recirculator - anyone got one? 5Jan 03, 2009 1:35 pm Another gadget is: http://www.chilipepperapp.com/ Consider also insulating your hot water pipes with at least R 1.0 lagging to reduce heat loss. Re: hot water recirculator - anyone got one? 6Jan 03, 2009 1:38 pm kek is it simply due to the water having to travel a long way through big houses Another reason why big houses are energy inefficient! When locating a hot water unit consider which outlet in the house gets the heaviest use and avoid long runs to wet areas. If designing a house from scratch think of ways of keeping the wet areas in reasonable proximity to one another. Re: hot water recirculator - anyone got one? 7Jan 03, 2009 1:50 pm We looked at this great idea. Needs to have an extra return for the hot water line so that the pipe is in a lop if that makes sense. Builder would not do it and we ran out of time to get our own plumber
Interested to know how difficult it would be to retrofit. regards sean Re: hot water recirculator - anyone got one? 8Jan 03, 2009 2:05 pm sdabel We looked at this great idea. Needs to have an extra return for the hot water line so that the pipe is in a lop if that makes sense. Builder would not do it and we ran out of time to get our own plumber Interested to know how difficult it would be to retrofit. regards sean Chilli pepper just recirculates down the cold water line. Re: hot water recirculator - anyone got one? 9Jan 03, 2009 2:11 pm dymonite69 sdabel We looked at this great idea. Needs to have an extra return for the hot water line so that the pipe is in a lop if that makes sense. Builder would not do it and we ran out of time to get our own plumber Interested to know how difficult it would be to retrofit. regards sean Chilli pepper just recirculates down the cold water line. Brilliant! Was thinking we had missed out on doing this. regards sean Re: hot water recirculator - anyone got one? 10Jan 03, 2009 5:49 pm kek I'm interested in this too. I could fill several buckets before the hot water in the kitchen kicks in. And the kids' bathroom is slow too. Does anyone know - is it simply due to the water having to travel a long way through big houses, or is it because of plumbing being done differently nowadays? We never had this problem before - hot water would only take a few seconds to come through in all the (small) older homes we lived in. Exactly!! It is a combiation of things with distance being a big factor.. Also with the news WELS ratings most taps only spit out 7 litres per minute which means it takes longer to push the hot through. Re: hot water recirculator - anyone got one? 11Jan 03, 2009 5:53 pm wakeboardandy It is because of the continual flow hot water services. I would prefer to have the tank system as you don't have to wait 2 mins for hot water, don't lose any pressure and you won't run out of water if you have a large enough tank. Hey Andy, No its not! We have the best of all 3 worlds here. I have solar into a 320l tank. I have a gas booster of the aforementioned tank and I have an instant hot water system if all else fails. If the tank system was better explain to me why tonight when it has been warm all day I come home and it takes 1m 20 secs to get hot water through to my kitchen? It is to do with the plastic pipes, the way they are run (underground etc..) and the distance they are run. Pressure is not an issue when taps only let out 7 litres per minute any way! Re: hot water recirculator - anyone got one? 13Jan 03, 2009 5:58 pm dymonite69 Another reason why big houses are energy inefficient! I love my big gas guzzling McMansion with its extra large cooler and its eaveless facade and its big *** solar panels and 6 star energy rating ... oh hang on 6 stars.... It appears my house is energy inefficient... Did someone say 'global warming' or was that 'climate change' ??? bahahahahaha dymonite69 When locating a hot water unit consider which outlet in the house gets the heaviest use and avoid long runs to wet areas. If designing a house from scratch think of ways of keeping the wet areas in reasonable proximity to one another. Or get a hot water ricirculator and then there is no need to think about these things. Dynomite, have to you ever tried to get a large volume builder to change their plan to suit your 'energy efficient' needs?? Good luck with that. Re: hot water recirculator - anyone got one? 14Jan 03, 2009 6:00 pm sdabel We looked at this great idea. Needs to have an extra return for the hot water line so that the pipe is in a lop if that makes sense. Builder would not do it and we ran out of time to get our own plumber Interested to know how difficult it would be to retrofit. regards sean Sean, It appears really easy to retrofit. I think they may even seel these things at bunnings! I will let you know after my endeavours tomorrow how I go. Re: hot water recirculator - anyone got one? 15Jan 03, 2009 6:08 pm mattwalker I have solar into a 320l tank. I have a gas booster of the aforementioned tank and I have an instant hot water system if all else fails. If the tank system was better explain to me why tonight when it has been warm all day I come home and it takes 1m 20 secs to get hot water through to my kitchen? Does the continious hot water service on the solar hot water service reduce your pressure. I know alot of them do. If so that could be the reason. Less pressure and obviously long pipes in your massive house could lead to the delay. Also I just did a calculation and if you had eaves it would only takes 20secs to get to your kitchen.. Re: hot water recirculator - anyone got one? 16Jan 03, 2009 6:12 pm wakeboardandy Also I just did a calculation and if you had eaves it would only takes 20secs to get to your kitchen.. Ha ha ha!!! Quote of the day!!! I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: hot water recirculator - anyone got one? 17Jan 03, 2009 6:28 pm wakeboardandy mattwalker I have solar into a 320l tank. I have a gas booster of the aforementioned tank and I have an instant hot water system if all else fails. If the tank system was better explain to me why tonight when it has been warm all day I come home and it takes 1m 20 secs to get hot water through to my kitchen? Does the continious hot water service on the solar hot water service reduce your pressure. I know alot of them do. If so that could be the reason. Less pressure and obviously long pipes in your massive house could lead to the delay. Also I just did a calculation and if you had eaves it would only takes 20secs to get to your kitchen.. No! The pressure is not regulated by the instant system....It only comes into play when there is not hot water from the solar and this only after the hot water has run out of the tank...320 litres lasts a really long time. I think you read the calculator upside down as if there was eaves the hot water sytem pipes would be colder so the time taken would be 25% longer Re: hot water recirculator - anyone got one? 18Jan 03, 2009 6:33 pm I am doing some work at the moment in northern canada where at the moment it is -40 celsius (yes that's right 40 below zero). All the houses here have water recirculators so that the pipes don't freeze.
A mate of mine forgot to turn his on for the winter - one day the pipes froze up - no water for a whole weekend. A call to a plumber and $500 later he learnt a valuable lesson So anyway what I'm really saying is that they do exist - not sure of availability or cost in Australia though. Here's a couple of sites I found on the subject - not sure if they help but it's a start! http://www.enviro-friendly.com/hot-water-recirculators.shtml http://www.askthebuilder.com/NH059_-_Hot_Water_Recirculating_Loop.shtml http://www.ferret.com.au/n/New-look-water-recirculators-n694914 http://www.toolbase.org/Technology-Inventory/Plumbing/hot-water-recirculation After 2 false starts, a year living overseas, two more world trips and 3 years of uncertainty we are now starting the build process again - hopefully for real this time! Re: hot water recirculator - anyone got one? 19Jan 03, 2009 6:34 pm And another couple - Australian products this time
http://www.carhil.com.au/sm.htm http://www.dux.com.au/recirculation.htm After 2 false starts, a year living overseas, two more world trips and 3 years of uncertainty we are now starting the build process again - hopefully for real this time! Re: hot water recirculator - anyone got one? 20Jan 03, 2009 7:25 pm The Chilli Pepper is availble from Reece and Bunnings, according to their website.
I'll be checking it out this week. Along with a billion other things on my list. Gee, new houses are great for the finances.... If so what were the "special circumstances" under which it was granted? "Note: If the development consent is for 'dual occupancy' an owner-builder permit can only be… 0 14053 the sun master is the solar heating to "warm" the water in the tank the S26 is your hot water system which will heat the water (25 degrees?) so with both turned on you… 2 12452 I want to build a decking to the drawn shape outlined in black. The problem is how close can I build to the gas hot water unit? Will I be able to build around it and be… 0 20220 |