If your home is like most, hot water is produced in a water heater. This large tank sits in your garage or basement, where it runs all day and night to keep 60, 80, or 100 gallons of water always hot and ready for use. When you turn on the hot water at a faucet, this hot water must run through a network of pipes in the walls where it could take several minutes to reach you. The farther away the faucet is from the hot water heater, the longer you have to wait for the hot water to emerge. Meanwhile, all the cool water pouring out of your faucet is wasted.
In the typical American home, 10,000 gallons of water are wasted each year as people wait for the hot water to arrive at the tap. In the following sections, I give you some options that can cut down on this waste.
Tankless Water Heaters
A typical water heater maintains a large tank of water, but a tankless water heater only heats the water you use. Also called an on-demand water heater, this small box mounts to the wall near your bathroom and only switches on when hot water is needed.
As you can see in the figure below cold water enters at the bottom where an efficient gas heater rapidly and instantly brings the water to a near boil. When you turn off the hot water, the tankless heater shuts off, so only the water you need is heated.
Although a tankless water heater doesn’t directly save water, you aren’t waiting for the water to heat up, and you’re saving that cold water that would have gone down the drain. Because you only heat the water you use, a great deal of energy is saved as well.
Tankless water heaters are typically warranted for 20 years, while a standard water heater usually only lasts about 7 to 10 years.
Depending on the requirements of your particular project, a tankless water heater can be bought for around the same price as a tank storage water heater. A typical hot water heater can cost anywhere from $300 to $800, depending on its size, features, and the fuel it uses to heat the water (natural gas or electricity). Prices for tankless water heaters vary widely depending on the application; a point-of-use model, which provides hot water to a single faucet or appliance, can cost as little as $250 while a whole-house model can cost more than $1000.
The associated costs of installation and operation, however, favors tankless systems. Tankless systems don’t require all the piping of a traditional heater because they’re placed near the bathroom. Finally, the energy and water savings will pay for the cost of the tankless heater within one to five years.
Hot Water Recirculation
Instead of waiting for the water to get hot, a hot water recirculation system quickly delivers hot water to your faucet. For less that $400, it uses a pump to rush the hot water where needed, saving you money on your energy and water bills.
Hot water recirculation systems can be activated by the push of a button, or by a thermostat, timer, or motion sensor. Hot water is always available at the faucet without any waiting. When activated, the pump starts recirculating cooled water that’s been sitting in the hot water line and sends it back to the water heater through the cold water line. Instead of allowing the cold water to go down the drain, it’s simply sent back to the water heater.
Another alternative is to install what is called a home-run plumbing system. Instead of pipes, small, flexible tubing is run directly to each fixture. Because each fixture has a direct line to the water heater, there is no waiting for the hot water to arrive.
Heat Recovery Systems
Hot water is expensive and requires energy. ....read more
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