Sacramento Dave wrote:
"m Ransley" wrote in message
...
A continous on circulator pump wastes energy, some have a button on
feature. See if you can put in a Ng tankless near the bath, but it is
not to far a distance it will just take longer to get Hw. Insulate the
pipes completly it will help, Pvc looses less heat then metal.


I don't thin a small pump motor would waste allot of energy especially on a
timer. I think pushing a button to start the pump is not solving the
problem, your right back to ware you started. You just added a pump to push
the cold water back into the hot water tank, you still have to wait for the
cold to clear the system, kind of like opening the fixture and letting the
cold run out. So all you have gained is the joy of pushing a button.


What's wasting the energy is not primarily the small pump motor. It's
the heat loss from having hot water sit in the pipe loop 24/7. If I
went with this type system, at the very least I'd have a timer to shut
it down overnight.

I think the button type systems can be a good solution, though I
haven't actually used one. It would seem you'd get used to it, much
like turning on a light switch. If you do it as soon as you enter the
bathroom, you can be doing something else for a min, while the water
arrives. They also claim to get it there faster, because the pump is
actively moving it.

Another interesting possibility would be to use an X10 motion detector
to trigger it.