An interesting product came to my attention today that I’ve seen a lot in commercial plumbing, but I’ve never installed one in someone’s house. It’s a wireless, re-circulation pump for your domestic taps. It consists of a small pump placed at your water heater and a valve at your farthest sink. The valve connects the hot and cold water pipes and when it senses a drop in temperature, it opens and allows the cool water to circulate back to your water heater. The result is that when you turn on the tap to wash your hands, the water is a comfortable temperature. It eliminates the wait, and the shock of cold water when you were expecting hot. This is the system.
A recirculation system is mandatory on large commercial jobs because of the miles of piping between the heat source and the point of use. It is installed as an integral part of the building systems, and has large pumps and extra piping. The best part of the above system is that it can be retrofitted in minutes to any house with no control wiring. It can be programmed to come on with temperature, or on a schedule. It even has a wireless repeater with activation button so you can turn it on whenever you want.
I can’t help but think that it would save a lot of cooled water being dumped down the drain.
On another note: I’d like to wish a Happy 70th Birthday to my Dad, Dennis Fransky. He is the owner/operator of Fransky Plumbing and Heating in Bancroft, and is the one who got me into the trade. HAPPY BIRTHDAY big guy!