water heater and recirculating system
 

This question is about building instead of repair, but I don't see a
better place to ask.

We are building a house with a garage and three small living floors
above it. The plans originally called for one of the instant on water
heaters (running on natural gas) on the second living floor. The way
the house is laid out, it would have to vent towards the street. In
order to keep from venting towards the street, the builder wants to
put the water heater in the garage and use a recirculating pump
system. The way I understand it, the heater comes on when there is
water flow. The recirculating pump would keep water circulating all
of the time, so the heater would be on all of the time, right? Does
this sound like a good plan?
--
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water heater and recirculating system
 

The recirculating pump would be controlled by an aquastat and would only run
when the pipe cooled down. The pump is bronze, and expensive. Overall you'd
be better off if you can find a warm location to install the heater






"Jud McCranie" wrote in message
...
This question is about building instead of repair, but I don't see a
better place to ask.

We are building a house with a garage and three small living floors
above it. The plans originally called for one of the instant on water
heaters (running on natural gas) on the second living floor. The way
the house is laid out, it would have to vent towards the street. In
order to keep from venting towards the street, the builder wants to
put the water heater in the garage and use a recirculating pump
system. The way I understand it, the heater comes on when there is
water flow. The recirculating pump would keep water circulating all
of the time, so the heater would be on all of the time, right? Does
this sound like a good plan?
--
Replace you know what by j to email

water heater and recirculating system
 

On Mon, 12 Feb 2007 17:17:40 -0500, "RBM" rbm2(remove
wrote:

The recirculating pump would be controlled by an aquastat and would only run
when the pipe cooled down. The pump is bronze, and expensive. Overall you'd
be better off if you can find a warm location to install the heater

I asked the builder if it was temperature or water flow that made the
heater come on, and he said water flow (i.e. demand). A factor I was
concerned about is that with the heater on the middle floor, it is
only one floor away from the others. In the garage it would be three
floors from the top.
--
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water heater and recirculating system
 

On Feb 12, 5:39�pm, Jud McCranie
wrote:
On Mon, 12 Feb 2007 17:17:40 -0500, "RBM" rbm2(remove

wrote:
The recirculating pump would be controlled by an aquastat and would only run
when the pipe cooled down. The pump is bronze, and expensive. Overall you'd
be better off if you can find a warm location to install the heater

I asked the builder if it was temperature or water flow that made the
heater come on, and he said water flow (i.e. demand). *A factor I was
concerned about is that with the heater on the middle floor, it is
only one floor away from the others. *In the garage it would be three
floors from the top.
--
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Go with a REGULAR tank! Go large like 75 gallons high BTUs.

Tankless have lots of downsides, and a tandard tanks stanby loss helps
heat your home in the winter

water heater and recirculating system
 

On 12 Feb 2007 15:34:06 -0800, "
wrote:

Go with a REGULAR tank! Go large like 75 gallons high BTUs.

Tankless have lots of downsides, and a tandard tanks stanby loss helps
heat your home in the winter

We don't have room for a tank unless the tank is down in the garage.
--
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water heater and recirculating system
 

On Feb 12, 3:04 pm, Jud McCranie
wrote:
This question is about building instead of repair, but I don't see a
better place to ask.

We are building a house with a garage and three small living floors
above it. The plans originally called for one of the instant on water
heaters (running on natural gas) on the second living floor. The way
the house is laid out, it would have to vent towards the street. In
order to keep from venting towards the street, the builder wants to
put the water heater in the garage and use a recirculating pump
system. The way I understand it, the heater comes on when there is
water flow. The recirculating pump would keep water circulating all
of the time, so the heater would be on all of the time, right? Does
this sound like a good plan?
--
Replace you know what by j to email

yes. no.

with a recirculating pump why would you need the instant-on, since
there'd already be hot water there due to the pump?

the pump runs all the time, keeping hot water near all the taps all
the time. you really only need one or the other.

regards,
charlie
http://glassartists.org/chaniarts

water heater and recirculating system
 

On Feb 13, 10:36 am, "charlie" wrote:
On Feb 12, 3:04 pm, Jud McCranie
wrote:

This question is about building instead of repair, but I don't see a
better place to ask.

We are building a house with a garage and three small living floors
above it. The plans originally called for one of the instant on water
heaters (running on natural gas) on the second living floor. The way
the house is laid out, it would have to vent towards the street. In
order to keep from venting towards the street, the builder wants to
put the water heater in the garage and use a recirculating pump
system. The way I understand it, the heater comes on when there is
water flow. The recirculating pump would keep water circulating all
of the time, so the heater would be on all of the time, right? Does
this sound like a good plan?
--
Replace you know what by j to email

yes. no.

with a recirculating pump why would you need the instant-on, since
there'd already be hot water there due to the pump?

the pump runs all the time, keeping hot water near all the taps all
the time. you really only need one or the other.

regards,
charliehttp://glassartists.org/chaniarts


In any of the systems I'm familiar with, the pump does not run all the
time, which would be very wasteful. There are 2 types of systems
that I know of, both of which are designed to run with a conventional
water heating syste, ie water heater tank, or furnace fired hot water"

1 - System uses a temp sensor at the point of use and runs the pump
whenever temp drops. May also have a timer, so it only does this
during times when use can be expected, shuts off during 1am-6am, etc

2 - System has a button you push, which turns on the pump and gets hot
water to you in 10 secs or so. I'm sure you could also easily hook up
a motion sensor to this as well.

water heater and recirculating system
 

On Feb 13, 9:17 am, wrote:
On Feb 13, 10:36 am, "charlie" wrote:



On Feb 12, 3:04 pm, Jud McCranie
wrote:

This question is about building instead of repair, but I don't see a
better place to ask.

We are building a house with a garage and three small living floors
above it. The plans originally called for one of the instant on water
heaters (running on natural gas) on the second living floor. The way
the house is laid out, it would have to vent towards the street. In
order to keep from venting towards the street, the builder wants to
put the water heater in the garage and use a recirculating pump
system. The way I understand it, the heater comes on when there is
water flow. The recirculating pump would keep water circulating all
of the time, so the heater would be on all of the time, right? Does
this sound like a good plan?
--
Replace you know what by j to email

yes. no.

with a recirculating pump why would you need the instant-on, since
there'd already be hot water there due to the pump?

the pump runs all the time, keeping hot water near all the taps all
the time. you really only need one or the other.

regards,
charliehttp://glassartists.org/chaniarts

In any of the systems I'm familiar with, the pump does not run all the
time, which would be very wasteful. There are 2 types of systems
that I know of, both of which are designed to run with a conventional
water heating syste, ie water heater tank, or furnace fired hot water"

1 - System uses a temp sensor at the point of use and runs the pump
whenever temp drops. May also have a timer, so it only does this
during times when use can be expected, shuts off during 1am-6am, etc

2 - System has a button you push, which turns on the pump and gets hot
water to you in 10 secs or so. I'm sure you could also easily hook up
a motion sensor to this as well.

well, obviously, since you don't know of it, it doesn't exist.

of course, the system that's on my house, and lots of other buildings
in my area, must not exist either? so when i go look at that pump in
my utility closet, it isn't really there?

water heater and recirculating system
 

On Feb 13, 11:24 am, "charlie" wrote:
On Feb 13, 9:17 am, wrote:





On Feb 13, 10:36 am, "charlie" wrote:

On Feb 12, 3:04 pm, Jud McCranie
wrote:

This question is about building instead of repair, but I don't see a
better place to ask.

We are building a house with a garage and three small living floors
above it. The plans originally called for one of the instant on water
heaters (running on natural gas) on the second living floor. The way
the house is laid out, it would have to vent towards the street. In
order to keep from venting towards the street, the builder wants to
put the water heater in the garage and use a recirculating pump
system. The way I understand it, the heater comes on when there is
water flow. The recirculating pump would keep water circulating all
of the time, so the heater would be on all of the time, right? Does
this sound like a good plan?
--
Replace you know what by j to email

yes. no.

with a recirculating pump why would you need the instant-on, since
there'd already be hot water there due to the pump?

the pump runs all the time, keeping hot water near all the taps all
the time. you really only need one or the other.

regards,
charliehttp://glassartists.org/chaniarts

In any of the systems I'm familiar with, the pump does not run all the
time, which would be very wasteful. There are 2 types of systems
that I know of, both of which are designed to run with a conventional
water heating syste, ie water heater tank, or furnace fired hot water"

1 - System uses a temp sensor at the point of use and runs the pump
whenever temp drops. May also have a timer, so it only does this
during times when use can be expected, shuts off during 1am-6am, etc

2 - System has a button you push, which turns on the pump and gets hot
water to you in 10 secs or so. I'm sure you could also easily hook up
a motion sensor to this as well.

well, obviously, since you don't know of it, it doesn't exist.

of course, the system that's on my house, and lots of other buildings
in my area, must not exist either? so when i go look at that pump in
my utility closet, it isn't really there?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I didn't say you couldn't have a system with a pump that is constantly
running. Only that I haven't seen one and if you look at the ones
that are available online, they are either temp or push button
activated, because for most applications, it's wasteful to just keep a
pump running 24/7. Are you suggesting that the OP install one that
runs 24/7? BTW, the fact that you have a pump in your closet
doesn't indicate how it's controlled. All of these systems have a
pump.

water heater and recirculating system
 

On Mon, 12 Feb 2007 17:04:42 -0500, Jud McCranie
wrote:

This question is about building instead of repair, but I don't see a
better place to ask.

We are building a house with a garage and three small living floors
above it. The plans originally called for one of the instant on water
heaters (running on natural gas) on the second living floor. The way
the house is laid out, it would have to vent towards the street. In
order to keep from venting towards the street, the builder wants to
put the water heater in the garage and use a recirculating pump
system. The way I understand it, the heater comes on when there is
water flow. The recirculating pump would keep water circulating all
of the time, so the heater would be on all of the time, right? Does
this sound like a good plan?


Why is having the vent on the street side a problem? Is this
a zoning/HOA issue, (in which case you should build somewhere
else, where the color of your underwear isn't dictated by
totalitarians) or just an esthetic preference?

water heater and recirculating system
 

On 13 Feb 2007 07:36:46 -0800, "charlie"
wrote:

with a recirculating pump why would you need the instant-on, since
there'd already be hot water there due to the pump?

the pump runs all the time, keeping hot water near all the taps all
the time. you really only need one or the other.

Thanks, that's what I thought, but I wanted to get some other
opinions. They wanted to put in a switch so you could cut off the
pump if you wanted to, but then what's the point?
--
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water heater and recirculating system
 

On Tue, 13 Feb 2007 12:58:24 -0500, Goedjn wrote:

Why is having the vent on the street side a problem?

The shortest distance is to the street side, and he didn't want the
vent to look bad. But they are only about 4x4 inches, and we looked
and them and decided it isn't that bad.

I was just over there about an hour ago, and we are NOT going that
route.

Thanks for the input, everyone.

Is this
a zoning/HOA issue, (in which case you should build somewhere
else, where the color of your underwear isn't dictated by
totalitarians) or just an esthetic preference?

The builder wanted to do it for esthetic reasons, but we decided that
having a small vent on the street side was a lot better than the
alternative. We are building there because that is where our land is.
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