Recirculation loop....was it unnecessary?

12 years ago

When dh and I built our house three years ago the builder encouraged us to put in a recirculating loop since we were building a split bedroom rambler. The master suite is on one side of the house and the other two bedrooms are on the other separated by a full bath. We find that since we don't have alot of company we don't use that bathroom that much. Is there a way to put an off/on switch or some kind of regulator on that recirculating loop so it is not heating water constantly through those pipes?

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Comments (11)

chrisk327
12 years ago
mine I put a timer on the recirculator which has an on off switch. Alternatively if you'd rather have it off all the time, you can disconnect the wires.

where is your water heater? if it isn't near your master, then you probably still want to have it running
User
12 years ago
If there's a recirc pump you can put it on a timer or shut it off.

If it's a passive recirc loop then it costs you nothing.
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lazypup
12 years ago
Even if you were to disconnect the loop to the other bathrooms it is doubtful that you would save enough money to buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks once a year.
greg_2010
12 years ago
But Starbucks coffee is expensive. You could easily buy a Tim Horton's coffee (or whatever the American equivalent of Tim Hortons is).
mydreamhome
12 years ago
OK, so here's a question...

We also had a recirc loop installed primarily for the washer as it's a front load and on the opposite end of the house from the tankless gas hot water heater. We were informed that the water cycle in the washer wouldn't run long enough to trigger the water heater + the distance between the two would be prohibitive of the hot water even if triggered making it to the washer in any great quantity. So 1st 1.5 months everything is great--hot water in 4 seconds or less to any tap in the house!! Then the gas man came & we had used over 200 gallons of LP!?!?! I don't wash clothes or run hot water that often!! The only appliances that are gas are the rangetop, the fireplace (that we never use) and the hot water heater. Mom has the same appliances running off LP gas & uses that amount in 6 months but she doesn't have the recirc loop. Is it possible that having the recirc loop used that much extra LP? (We put it on a timer to test to see, but we haven't seen the gas man back yet.)
mydreamhome
12 years ago
bump :-)
booboo60
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks for the comments! Love the "coffee comments" :) Now, I have another one for you :)
Would the recirc pump have any effect with the water pressure in the master bath shower? I find this to be the strangest thing of all in our house. The water pressure in the guest shower on the other side of the house is fantastic. But in our shower it is very weak, not a trickle but a noticeable difference from the other one. The location of the hot water tank and the recirc pump are closest to our master bath. All the same faucets too!
brickeyee
12 years ago
"If it's a passive recirc loop then it costs you nothing."

The passive loop depends on the hot water cooling to push it around the loop.
While it does not use electricity, it still uses fuel to reheat the water.

Free lunches are still not really available.
mydreamhome
12 years ago
bump :-)
pima74
12 years ago
I plugged the recirc pump into a X-10 appliance module. I put X-10 controllers in the master bedroom and in the kitchen and X-10 light modules with night lights plugged into the same outlets as the controllers. We can then run the pump as needed. For example it takes 5.5 minutes to get hot water to the kitchen sink/dishwasher. When not needed the pump is turned off. The night lights (with red bulbs) are a visual reminder that the pump is on or off. The MB only takes 1 minute for hot water to the sink. It takes 8 minutes to get hot water to the back bathroom which is occasionally used by guests (and for cleaning).
booboo60
Original Author
12 years ago
On my last entry I had inquired about the water pressure difference between the master shower and the guest shower? Well, this is embarrassing, unscrew your shower head once in a while and clean out the "gunk"!! LOL! The master shower works like a champ now! Thanks for all your help!

Recirculation loop....was it unnecessary?

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chrisk327

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Recirculation loop....was it unnecessary?

Comments (11)

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