Water Shortage or Drought?
Save Water with a Green Hot Water System!
If your area is suffering a water shortage or drought conditions, substantial water savings can be obtained by installing an
inexpensive, green, hot water circulating system.
Hot water demand systems are also a convenience, saving you time and energy
as well as water. In some cases local rebates can cover the entire cost of the
system, saving you a bundle of green.
Hot water circulating systems can help the water shortages in drought stricken
areas
If you live in an area affected by severe water
shortages or a drought, you should look into obtaining a hot water circulating system.
Hot water circulating systems can save tremendous amounts of water, and
at the same time provide the user with fast hot water.
Based on the fact that a typical four member household can save over 10,000
gallons of water per year, only 10,000 homes could save 100 million gallons of
water annually!
Guilt free fast hot water...instant hot water at the faucets!
Fast hot water
is a convenience that once experienced, is difficult to do without. Not
only that, but when you do have to run water down the drain for long
periods of time to obtain your hot water, you feel exceedingly guilty
about doing so…or at least I do.
Having instant hot water when I turn on the faucet, and not running all that
water down the drain makes my day start out with me feeling pretty green...in a
good way.
There is a variety of hot water circulating systems
on the market, so we shall examine several systems to get a feel for
what the differences are. There are pros and cons to every system, and
by knowing what they are you can make an intelligent decision as to
whether or not you would benefit from such a system, and which kind of
system to purchase.
Which kind of hot water circulating system is
best?
We can begin with the traditional hot water
circulating system. The traditional system, the hot water pipe connects
from the outlet of the water heater to the first fixture, and then loops
from fixture to fixture, and finally it connects back to the inlet of
the water heater.
There is circulating pump in the hot water line that
keeps hot water circulating in the piping. The pump can be placed on a
time to reduce the heat loss from the system and the pumping energy
during periods of little or no use.
The traditional system is very wasteful of energy,
since it keeps all the hot water piping full of hot water, which
continuously looses heat to the environment. The water heater must work
a lot harder than with a non circulating system, and could end up
needing replacement much sooner than normal.
The system is so wasteful
of energy that it can’t be used in California for new residential
construction. Grundfos and Taco are manufactures of traditional pumps.
These systems can not be used with tankless water heaters.
Hot water demand systems are the best type of
system for water and energy conservation
A better approach is to use what is being called a
“hot water demand system”. It’s similar to a traditional system, but it
uses the cold water line as the return line. A small pump is placed
under the sink furthest from the water heater.
When the pump is turned
on, it pumps water out of the hot water line and into the cold water
line. In effect, it’s pumping the water in a big loop out of the water
heater and back into the heater. No water goes in or out of the water
main and no water gets run down the drain.
When hot water reaches the pump it shuts off. Now
you have instant hot water without running water down the drain.
According to Grundfos, a large international manufacturer of circulating
pumps, a typical family can save up to 16,000 gallons of water per year
with a circulating system.
Demand systems do not use any more energy
than a non circulating system, since they don’t really circulate the
water; they just pump it to the sink where it was going to go anyway.
The pumps run for such a brief time that the energy usage is very
small…typically less than $2.00 per year. With a demand system you save
time, water, energy, and money. Metlund and
Chilipepper Sales are two
manufactures of demand systems.
Luke warm water systems save water, but not
as much as demand systems
Another type of system is kind of halfway between a
traditional system and a demand system. This system uses a pump that
connects between the hot and cold water lines like the demand systems,
but run continuously or on a timer like the traditional system.
The
pumps turn on at one temperature and off at a second higher temperature,
keeping the water in the piping at warm temperature range. Since the
run pump often, the cold water line ends up with a lot of luke-warm
water, and when you turn on the hot faucet you get warm water not hot.
Like the traditional system it uses a lot of energy since it keeps the
piping warmer than normal for long periods of time. Laing’s
AutoCirc
and RedyTemp are two such systems.
True hot water demand systems are by far the most
energy efficient and save the same amount of water as the traditional
types of systems. Traditional systems are not usually installed in
existing homes due to the extensive plumbing usually required along with
the expense of operation due to the heat loss.
Demand systems range in
price from under $200.00 to over $500.00. In many cases the systems are
eligible for rebates from the local water company. In some cases the
rebate can cover the entire cost of the system.
Save time, save water, save energy, save money, and be green
Saving water and energy also reduces the greenhouse
gases released into the atmosphere as a result of the pumping, treating,
and distribution of drinking water. So be green and install a
hot water demand type circulating system in your home today!
Chilipepper
Sales 10 Greg St., # 110 Sparks Nevada, 89431
PH (775)-359-1223
