Quote:
Originally Posted by SDMCF
I find that most of the time it is OK if the water is warm, and if I really do want hot water I am prepared to wait for it. So I also put a thermostat on the return line, so the pump would run until the circulation was replenished and then turn off until it had cooled down some. This cut things down significantly - but I still keep the pump switched off most of the time.
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The house originally had the hot water on a timer set to run morning and evening. There was 60' of un-insulated line from the hot water heater to our bathroom so the hot water heater would be heating 120' of line just heating our basement. I now have the lines insulated and on a switch so we just hit it 30 seconds before we use the shower and it's nice and warm then cuts out on our own. Had to run water for a very long time before which is wasteful but it also fills the septic tank faster... Also putting a heat exchanger from the showers drain to the incoming cold line lets us turn it down a bit too.