Easy Home Improvement Project – Go Green with Your Plumbing

Looking for an easy project that you can do to improve your home? How about going green with your plumbing? By making your home more energy efficient and water efficient you’re are improving the resale value of your home and providing yourself with reduced water and energy bills and added convenience.

If you have to wait for an extended period of time to get your hot water you are a good candidate for one of the many instant hot water systems. Most don’t really provide you with “instant” hot water, but can considerably reduce your wait time, and can even nearly eliminate running water down the drain while you wait.

There are a couple of retro-fit friendly instant or more appropriately fast hot water systems that are easy to install with no major changes required for your plumbing layout. Although these fast hot water delivery systems install under the sink, they are not to be confused with under the sink water heaters. They make a good one-afternoon home improvement project for almost any skill level. If you can change a supply hose you can install one of these systems.

There are basically two types of systems, luke-warm circulating systems like the Laing Autocirc1, and the RedyTemp, and hot water demand systems such as the Metlund system and the Chilipepper pump.

The warm water circulating systems are small pumps designed to circulate the water from the water heater through the piping and on back to the water heater. When the pump senses the temperature has reached the lower set point, about 90 degrees, then it turns on until the pump senses the upper temperature, about 100 degrees, when it shuts off the pump. The system does this over and over keeping the water in the piping warm.

You end up paying for all that heat energy it takes to keep the piping warm. You also no longer have cold water in your cold water pipes. Now it’s warm.

The second type of system is known as a hot water demand system, and the pump only pumps the water to the fixture when you demand it by pressing a button. Hot water demand systems make a better home improvement project because they provide even more convenience and use less energy than the recirculating systems and will really add to the green aspects of your plumbing system.

Again, the pump mounts under the sink and is easy to hook up. With the demand system when the hot water reaches the pump the pump shuts off so you don’t end up with hot water in the cold water pipes.

Demand systems don’t run very long or very often so they typically use about $1.00 per year in electricity, and you don’t run any water down the drain waiting for hot water. They don’t use any more energy than a system with no pump since they only fill the pipe between the water heater and the fixture, just like if you ran the faucet.

If you’re looking for an easy home improvement project you can complete in a weekend, one that will add value to your home, and will provide you with lasting benefits like faster hot water, water savings, and energy savings, then install a demand system today!