When you are getting ready to take a shower or wash your hands, think about all of the water that gets wasted down the drain while you wait for it to heat up. Don’t you wish there was a way you could turn on a tap and instantly receive hot water? With a recirculating pump, you can! Today we’re going to talk about what a hot water recirculating pump is and three reasons why you should consider installing one in your home!
What does a hot water recirculating pump do?
When you turn on a hot water tap, water is delivered from yourwater heater to that tap until you shut it off. When you do finally shut off the tap, there is still unused water that sits in your hot water supply lines. This water cools down as it sits in your pipes. When you turn on a hot water tap again, that cooled-down water comes out of your taps first until more hot water from your water heater replaces it.
A hot water recirculating pump makes use out of the unused water that sits in your hot water supply lines. It works by continuously circulating water from your water heater to the farthest corners of your hot water supply lines and back again. As a result, you will instantly receive hot water when you turn on a hot water tap because the unused water has no chance to cool down.
3 reasons to consider installing a hot water recirculating pump
- 1. You want to conserve water at home. One of the best benefits of a recirculating pump is that you can dramatically reduce the amount of water that your family consumes. That’s because you will not waste the many gallons of water that would otherwise go down your drains while you wait for your taps to heat up. This is an especially important point given California’s recent history with draughts.
- 2. You are tired of waiting for hot water. Beyond being a waste of water, waiting for taps to heat up is simply inconvenient. A recirculating pump will cut down the amount of time you spend taking showers and washing your hands, and it will avoid the uncomfortable feeling of coming into contact with cold water while you check to see whether or not your water has heated up.
- 3. You want to lower your utility bills. Although recirculating pumps consume a small amount of energy, they will actually help lower your utility bills. Most recirculating pumps come with a timer that will turn the units off during the times of day that there is no demand for hot water (similar to the way a programmable thermostat works), and the small amount of energy that the pumps consume will be offset by the water that they save you.
If you have any questions about why you’d want to install a recirculating pump, or if you’d like a plumbing system serviced or installed in your home, contact Cabrillo, your Bay Area plumbing, heating and air conditioning contractor.