# best way to get hot water to distant parts of house?



## rtztgue (Jul 9, 2010)

My hot water tank is in the garage and my kitchen and one bath take several minutes to get the hot water to them. So I am looking at solutions. I see tankless under sink heaters. Those have so-so reviews, either take gas or wiring 240 to the the thing etc. I have looked at a 2.5 gallon under the sink heaters. Some have great reviews but tend to have bad tanks that leak or burst and I worry about it happening when I am out and filling the house with water. ( I actually have room under the house at this point, but it is in the crawl space. (not sure how code that is) The last option I have seen is the recirculating pump, but apparently your single tap sinks will have them circulate thru the cold side so you get hot water, but warm water comes out the cold side. Also some of those only keep the water at 95 degrees or so and then you get hit with the really hot water after a few minutes.

Any other solutions people have, or have used that work well???? I came across one post from a plumber talking about valve kits for under the sink, but he did not go into detail.


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## KillerToiletSpider (May 27, 2007)

Learn patience.


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## cork-guy (May 1, 2010)

Do you have copper pipes; this seems like an issue that revolves around galvanized and iron pipes; are your hot water pipes insulated?


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## Hmrepairs (Sep 11, 2010)

The recirc pump works good. Not sure what your description is trying to say, but I have a single handle with the hot recirculating and don't get any warm water from the cold side. Really not sure how that would be possible, if it's installed correctly.


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## rtztgue (Jul 9, 2010)

i did not understand it much either, other than that some handles allow water through. I think one reason is to mix the water as warm.... a little cold... a little hot... like most kitchen sinks. The other I was reading about was that some of them allow water through as an anti-scald. Either way, it seems to be a big enough issue that if you check out the recirculating pumps it does come up. The main point was that it depending on the manufacturer and style of handles. Nice to know yours works great. What brand and model do you have?


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## griz (Nov 26, 2009)

Check out the Grundfos recirc pump. A friend of a friend.....thing has one & they are happy with it. Do a search on the forum it has been discussed before.


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## Mike's Plumbing (Jul 19, 2010)

http://lainginc.itt.com/pages/circ.htm

I have this in my home with a timer. It works great.

Mike


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## protechplumbing (Oct 10, 2008)

I think I would pay good money to see you attempt to stuff a gas tankless heater under your sink :laughing:



rtztgue said:


> My hot water tank is in the garage and my kitchen and one bath take several minutes to get the hot water to them. So I am looking at solutions. I see tankless under sink heaters. Those have so-so reviews, *either take gas* or wiring 240 to the the thing etc. I have looked at a 2.5 gallon under the sink heaters. Some have great reviews but tend to have bad tanks that leak or burst and I worry about it happening when I am out and filling the house with water. ( I actually have room under the house at this point, but it is in the crawl space. (not sure how code that is) The last option I have seen is the recirculating pump, but apparently your single tap sinks will have them circulate thru the cold side so you get hot water, but warm water comes out the cold side. Also some of those only keep the water at 95 degrees or so and then you get hit with the really hot water after a few minutes.
> 
> Any other solutions people have, or have used that work well???? I came across one post from a plumber talking about valve kits for under the sink, but he did not go into detail.


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## protechplumbing (Oct 10, 2008)

A recirc pump is the cheapest way to get it done but it will cost a bit in the long run to keep all of that uninsulated pipe hot.

Local tankless electric booster heaters can be a good option if your water quality is good and you have adequate electrical service. Very water and energy efficient though. The down side of that is the initial costs of buying multiple point of use heaters and running all of that extra electrical. Also, if you have hard water, cost will go up.

A timer and aquastat controlled recirc pump with a dedicated return with will insulated piping is probably the most energy efficient and reliable method. It's also the most costly initially if doing a retrofit. Not so costly if part of a new construction design.


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