Hot Water Pump

[Wrench]

The way my house was designed, was a total DIY. I have two hot water heaters that work in tandem on opposite ends of the house. So both water heaters are sending water to the same shower. I read about the solution is a pump that will, on a timer, put the water in the pipes back into the water heater. Since I have two water heaters though, would both need it? Do these things actually work well?

 

[havasu]

Sounds like you are referring to a Grundfos recirculation pump? I have one and love it. Now, instead of taking 4-5 minutes to warm up a shower, the hot water is almost instant. It was a simple install, and costs about $250 from Home Depot. The downside is my cold water from the faucet is luke warm for about 10 seconds before you get cold water.

 

[MicEd69]

You need to look at the piping and see if you can figure out how to install a pump such that it will fill most of the hot water lines with hot water. If you install a dedicated hot water return line instead of using a Thermal By-Pass Valve, it will resolve the issue that havasu has with lukewarm water in the cold-water line.

But yes, they work and it is so "cool" to have almost instant "hot" water. LOL.

I've got mine on a timed switch. I turn it on when I'm about to take a shower or my wife is about to do the dishes and it runs for 2 minutes filling the hot water lines with hot water. You need to insulate the water lines of course. Our washing machine is close to the water heater, so I don't need to worry about using it for washing clothes. But we rarely use hot water for washing clothes anyway.