Not Shop - but house, adding instant hot water to the house . . .

[conv67bdere]

November 8th . . .

House stuff yesterday . . .

Spent 12 hours under the house with copper plumbing yesterday ( did I ever tell you I hate doing plumbing . . . ) with the goal to get my hot water line set up for installation of the hot water recirculating pump that my dad bought for my years ago . . . just put off crawling under the house to do the work. After 12 hours of work ( and 3 trips to the store ) the complete circuit is fully plumbed, and I've run a line up into the house for the remainder of the work to hook up the pump.

The idea is - circulate hot water in a circuit that runs under all the hot water access points in the house so when you turn on the hot water, you get it very quickly and not have to wait 3-5 minutes to get the water hot.

My plan ( with the help of my friend ) is to set it up on a temperature sensor - then the temp on the return side drops below a temp, the pump turns on to put more hot water into the pipes - the returning water ( still warm ) is dumped back in the the hot water tank.

The good news - no swimming pool under the house this morning - and everything appears to be working . . .

All of the pipes will be wrapped with rubber insulation to help keep the water in the pipes hot longer . . . that will be added after a bit to allow me to check for pin hole water leaks in the new joints.

Glad to have that "nasty" part of the job completed . . . and boy am I sore from crawling around on the hard ground under the house . . . Yay Advil ! !

 

[conv67bdere]

November 18 . . .

Crawled back under the house with a box of rubber insulation ( cut and adhesive style )

This stuff . . .

Note - they have a "foam" insulation . . . and a "rubber" type insulation - the foam is not very good and cost about $1.50 for 6 feet . . . the rubber stuff costs about $6.00 for 6 feet of the insulation - I got the good stuff so it can ( hopefully ) hold the heat in the pipes as long as possible . . .

Got all of the pipes under the house covered with insulation . . . and still no swimming pool under the house . . . yet ( that's a good sign )

Side note - the return pipe going back up into the house had a ball valve on the end of it ( we'll add the pump ad return later in the laundry room ). So I'm under the house adding the insulation and the return pipe drops down . . . no biggie ( so I think ) . . . then the puppy dog starts barking up in the house . . . why . . . then I hear the sound or running water and think ( oh great - it fall and opened the ball valve ) . . .

So I'm 40-50 feet from the entrance to the crawlspace, and you have to GI Joe crawl, and I have to get out run up into the house - all the while the water is running in the laundry room ) . . . Then in the panic . . . I remember, the whole house shut off is about 10 feet from me - so I scurry over to the shut off, and shut the valve - just as the water from the laundry room starts to leak through into the crawl space . . . disaster averted ( kinda ) . . .

Sheeesh ! ! !

 

[metaldad]

you will save alot of water.
you, and yours, will appreciate the shorter time for the hot to get hot.
and............... for grins............ trade nickname for the rubber insulation............. donkey dick

 

[conv67bdere]

Sorry . . .

Been a bit busy with the bathroom renovation, and the instant hot water that I was not able to update the forum . . . so I trying to catch up with the progress . . .

Next installment - the "water heater from hell" . . . .

 

[bm02tj]

When we built our house I added motion sensors and a Grundfos recirc pump with temp sensor so when you walk into the bathroom the pump starts and then shuts off as so as the hot water gets back to tank
That way it only runs when needed

 

[not so famous bob]

When we built our house I added motion sensors and a Grundfos recirc pump with temp sensor so when you walk into the bathroom the pump starts and then shuts off as so as the hot water gets back to tank
That way it only runs when needed

AFTE MAKING MY LIVING FOR OVER 40 YRS. PLUMBING, I`M CURIOUS TO WHERE AN AMATUER (NO JAB INTENDED) TIED THE WATER BACK IN TO THE TANK .

 

[pushrod]

PEX is my friend when replumping. The recirculating
Pump is a huge improvement, just a pain to install.
Good job and good luck on the heater

 

[gkent]

I thought of installing one of those but figured the cost of the water was far less than running the pump all the time.

 

[bm02tj]

AFTE MAKING MY LIVING FOR OVER 40 YRS. PLUMBING, I`M CURIOUS TO WHERE AN AMATUER (NO JAB INTENDED) TIED THE WATER BACK IN TO THE TANK .

I tied it into the cold water inlet with a swing check to stop water going back into system
Also a shut off valve and a drain tap to remove air in return line
I am not a potable plumber (that is sh#ty) but I do hot water ,hot oil and steam piping

 

[conv67bdere]

AFTE MAKING MY LIVING FOR OVER 40 YRS. PLUMBING, I`M CURIOUS TO WHERE AN AMATUER (NO JAB INTENDED) TIED THE WATER BACK IN TO THE TANK .

I'll take that challenge and your expert opinion . . .

Plumbed it into the drain at the bottom of the tank - the water will be cooler and need to be reheated.

How'd I do ?

 

[conv67bdere]

you will save alot of water.
you, and yours, will appreciate the shorter time for the hot to get hot.
and............... for grins............ trade nickname for the rubber insulation............. donkey dick

I'm on a well, but it should help me to no longer waste water waiting for it to get hot.

 

[conv67bdere]

When we built our house I added motion sensors and a Grundfos recirc pump with temp sensor so when you walk into the bathroom the pump starts and then shuts off as so as the hot water gets back to tank
That way it only runs when needed

Great idea - I'm still working on the plan and learning in the process.

I've got an aqua-stat on the pipe to sense the temp and I timed it from stone cold to turning off - 2 minutes 47 seconds,will probably be shorter with the pipes warm.

What about hot water at the kitchen sink - you got a motion sensor there too ?

 

[bm02tj]

Great idea - I'm still working on the plan and learning in the process.

I've got an aqua-stat on the pipe to sense the temp and I timed it from stone cold to turning off - 2 minutes 47 seconds,will probably be shorter with the pipes warm.

What about hot water at the kitchen sink - you got a motion sensor there too ?

It is right above boiler room so 2sec for hot water

 

[conv67bdere]

For reference . . . here's where I'm working . . .

The entrance to my crawlspace . . .

And the opening is not much bigger . . .

But I have done a lot of work to get it sealed up under the house ( too much time )

Yes - added lights to make it easy to work down here - if needed ( and I seem to be here far too often )

And here's one of the pipes insulated under the house . . .

Note - yes, the floor joists are all primed under the house, had mold in the house and wiped it all down with clorox, and primed it all while I was down there
( like I said - far too much time UNDER the house )

You gotta do what you gotta do . . .

 

[mosquito13]

Like ours , only down side is the years descaling. 12 volt pump and a couple washing machine hoses into and out of a jug of descaler , half hour later done. 6 years on it now.

 

[conv67bdere]

On to some of the more "interesting" details of this project - hooking up the pump and testing . . .

Before we could hook it up we needed to drain the tank ( holy crap was that an endeavor . . . )
Here's only part of what we got out of the tank . . .

Then we fitted up all the parts and got this - through the floor up to the pump - then back down and into the original tank drain location . . .

Here's the pump hook up - originally it stopped at the left cutoff - which allowed us to get to the pump as time permitted and still use the hot water.
- - added a check valve on the water inlet ( far left tube ) to not feed water back to my well house
- - (2) dielectric unions on either side of the pump to prevent a short running through the pipes
- - (2) ball valves to allow the pump to be replaced from the system ( fairly easily )
- - thought the pump would act as a check valve for the hot water ( guessed wrong - had to add one more check valve in the system )

Part of the "fun" that we had was that the tank was not hating the water - so drain the tank and find this . . . one fried heating element . . .

 

[conv67bdere]

And the final look of this amateur plumbing installation . . .

The brass area on the right is the new check valve that was needed and a union was added below that too.
- - added a aqua-stat to allow it to control the pump with pipe water temps
- - also have the manual mode for running with the timer that came on the pump
- - and added an OFF position in case the house will be empty if going on vacation ( just in case )
- - all the electrical was done in a junction box
- - and the pipes were all insulated as they were done under the house too

Still trying to catch the pump turning on and time the ON time with the system hot . . . and determine how long between runs.

So far - it's working great ! !

P.S. - don't blame me on the paneling in the house, it was here when I bought it ( can't wait to get rid of it )