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Old 02-21-09, 11:28 AM   #1
gascort
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Default Hot water foot pedal - valve?

Does any such device exist yet?
My wife and I fight over dishes - when I don't do them fast enough, she does them. Problem solved, right? I then watch her turn on the hot water full blast and leaves it on the whole time while doing the dishes, and 85+% of the water runs straight down the drain without being used. She then gets mad when I come in and try to help, because, "I make her feel like she's killing the planet".
"No, just you're using more hot water than I use in 2 weeks of showers!!"
I think a floor foot pedal would make it easy - hands free, instant-on, waste-less.

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Old 02-21-09, 04:54 PM   #2
knowbodies
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Wouldn't putting the plug in the sink be a lot easier?
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Old 02-21-09, 06:39 PM   #3
gascort
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Yeah, for large amounts of dishes she fills the sink with hot water. Still way more than using it sparingly over dishes as I do.
For a few (maybe 5) baby bottles, she just runs the hot water. Probably less than filling the sink, but completely wasteful.
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Old 02-21-09, 08:10 PM   #4
mincus
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I've been thinking about this lately too. I thought I read on a blog somewhere that such a thing exists. All I would like is something attached to the cold water in line that wouldn't necessarily get it incredibly hot, but at least luke warm for washing hands and such. It's such a waste to use the hot water to wash your hands because it's a task that takes less time than it takes to get the actual hot water to the faucet. Thus, that hot water is now going to heat my basement, which I don't heat otherwise. And I'm wasting gas to heat up the replaced water in the tank.

The problem is that the cold water coming in to the house is so darn cold during the winter, its almost painful to wash hands with it. Thus, leading to wasted hot water that isn't even hot!

I definitely feel your pain, and would love something through which your cold water always flows, but turns on a heating element when the foot pedal is pressed with the cold water on.

Under sink hot water heaters do exist, but from what I can tell, they're designed to heat up whatever water goes through them and don't give you the option of heating the cold water.

Here's one from ace hardware:
Ace - Ace Tree: Plumbing: Faucets: Hot Water Dispensers: In-Sink-Erator ® Hot Water Dispenser (Hot-1)
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Old 02-28-09, 06:06 PM   #5
gascort
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I think we might get one of those too; the one I saw was an Insta-Hot model - keeps a small amount of 140F water handy.

We would still need the hot water pedal; the insta-hot would be nice to wash one or two dishes, or if we turned it down a bit, to wash hands.
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Old 05-15-10, 05:18 AM   #6
Solar Mike
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Install a dish washer, uses 1/2 the amount of hot water than filling a sink up and washing by hand.
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Old 05-16-10, 11:24 AM   #7
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I have seen a product for sale at Home Depot. It is a plastic valve that screws onto the end of your sink (in place of the flow regulator) and is activated by pushing the long plastic extension. It can be over-ridden by pushing up and turning the valve. What you do is turn the water on, get it where you want, put the valve in place, you only get warm water when you need it. I think it cost like $7 and has numerous advantages if it works. If you have a leaky sink, it says it fixes it, and you don't have to worry about a toddler or a pet finding the hot water foot petal and using more hot water than you do in a year! If you would like more information but can't get one locally, then next time I am at HD I will take some pictures of the packaging, and I can get you one if you want, but I warn you, I don't go to HD as much since finishing our house...
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Old 01-03-11, 05:57 AM   #8
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Have a look at this post:

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/conser...faucets-2.html

It might not be exactly what you need. But so far, having installed two sensor faucets (main bathroom and kitchen) and two foot pedal "faucets" in the same house, I am all for the foot pedal. It beats not only conventional faucets, but even the sensor ones, on most counts.

It is simple, requires no batteries or mains, and unless you are a unable to use your foot to operate the water, it is pure joy.

For bathrooms to cater for disabled people, there might have to be some other faucet solution - in case they cannot use a foot pedal.
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