Browse Forums Heating, Cooling & Insulation 1 Feb 10, 2015 6:35 pm Hi all, I am building a new house and my hot water tank (solar hot water with electric boost) is located next to the garage. The hot water has to travel about 8m to the kitchen, 12m to the bathroom and 20m to the ensuite. The ensuite will probably be where the hot water will be used most, but not possible to move it closer unless it's facing the street - doesnt make the house look very presentable with a big hot water tank in full view Does anyone else have their HWS located a fair distance away? Any problems other than waiting a few seconds for hot water to kick in? Many thanks! Dale - Building Newbie Proserpine, QLD Re: Hot water pipe lengths 2Feb 10, 2015 9:50 pm We have a Rheem solar HWU with rooftop tank. Length of pipe from tank to our ensuite is about 20-25m. It is ridiculous, you can turn on the hot water in the shower, brush your teeth, then by the time you get into the shower it's almost hot. You could get a small electric instantaneous unit mounted at the back of your vanity unit for your ensuite just to deal with the hot water lead time issue. It would be fairly economical and energy efficient as it would only run for 30 seconds to a minute until the solar hot water got there. Check out Stiebel Eltron DHCE range for example. Building Services Engineer Renovating our 1960's modernist home in Brisbane https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=82091 Re: Hot water pipe lengths 3Feb 11, 2015 12:41 am check with your builder or plumber on how much more it will be to fit pipe insulation over your hot water lines. Every pipe whether copper or plastic has a heat loss factor and the pipe insulation helps to reduce it. If you wanted to go all out, you could do what I'm having done and installing a ring main hot water system with a small circulation pump set to run for 5 minutes every half hour which should be enough to keep the loop hot that you get almost instant hot water once the tap has been cracked open. To maximize the effectiveness of this type of setup you'll need to keep the branch lines to each hot water fixture as short as possible off the main ring line. hth Re: Hot water pipe lengths 4Feb 11, 2015 2:12 pm Bels check with your builder or plumber on how much more it will be to fit pipe insulation over your hot water lines. Every pipe whether copper or plastic has a heat loss factor and the pipe insulation helps to reduce it. If you wanted to go all out, you could do what I'm having done and installing a ring main hot water system with a small circulation pump set to run for 5 minutes every half hour which should be enough to keep the loop hot that you get almost instant hot water once the tap has been cracked open. To maximize the effectiveness of this type of setup you'll need to keep the branch lines to each hot water fixture as short as possible off the main ring line. hth Hi Bels, To your knowledge would volume builders consider doing this, or is it more project builders? How much would it set you back to get such a setup? TIA siapao Re: Hot water pipe lengths 5Feb 11, 2015 8:30 pm Hi siapao I'm unsure of volume builders as I've never dealt with one, I'm using a project builder myself. It cost me an additional $2k all up which is all the extra pipe required for an actual ring loop, plumbing fittings such as Ts to branch to each outlet, 9mm armaflex pipe insulation, an additional tempering valve so each bathroom has one, a RPZ valve (backflow), a Grundfos circulating pump and the additional labour. hth Re: Hot water pipe lengths 6Feb 12, 2015 9:36 am Could you change your HWU to a type with a rooftop tank, like the Rheem? That way you could mount it on the roof more centrally. Building Services Engineer Renovating our 1960's modernist home in Brisbane https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=82091 DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair We have a hot water copper pipe that runs from our hot water unit on one side of our house under a concrete slab to our bathroom and laundry...old house so not ideal. The… 0 5115 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 14030 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 20230 |