Recirculating Pumps

Conserve Water, Save Time and Money

Waiting for hot water to get to the fixtures in your home not only wastes 2.5 gallons of water per minute, but can also waste your valuable time, costing you money.  Installing a hot water recirculating system in your home will provide hot water in 10-15 seconds in every fixture in your home, saving time, money and most of all our planet's most valuable natural resource – fresh drinking water.

Most homes in the Atlanta area are designed with the water heater either located in the basement or garage, usually two to three floors away from the farthest fixture.  Waiting for hot water to make it to this fixture can take upwards of 5 minutes or more and waste up to 15 gallons of water during that time.   Installing a hot water recirculating system can save a family of four over 36,000 gallons of water annually.

How Does a Hot Water Recirculating System Work?

A hot water recirculating system is a pump and valve combination that delivers hot water in an instant to any faucet or bath in your home.  The pump is installed at the water heater along with the patented under-sink sensor valve that is installed at the fixture located at the furthest distance from the water heater.  This combination creates a pressure differential that allows the cold and cool water in the hot water supply line to "by-pass" (at a low volume) into the cold water supply line through the thermostatically controlled sensor valve, keeping the water in the hot water supply line at a "no-wait" temperature throughout the home.  A timer on the pump allows the homeowner to control the time where instant hot water will be used.  Are There Different Recirculating Pumps Available?

There are several makes and models of recirculating pumps available:

• A basic “always on” recirculating pump that uses the same amount of energy as a 40 watt light bulb.
• A recirculating pump with a timer allows you to set times when the system is to be on for peak use and efficiency. 
• An “on demand” recirculating pump is designed with a remote control that is pushed any time you want to circulate hot water through your system. This type of pump shuts off when it senses that the water at the faucet farthest away from the heater has reached the appropriate temperature (approximately 10 – 15 seconds after you start the pump, depending on the size of the house.)
• Recirculating Pump designed for tankless water heaters.  This unit is designed for use with tankless water heaters and is similar in function as the recirculating pump with timer listed above.

Unfortunately, not all plumbing contractors and big box stores are very knowledgeable about the installation and maintenance of recirculating pumps. One of the more common mysterious problems we are asked to diagnose seems to be where hot water is coming out of the cold water faucets. Frequently we find this problem is caused by an incorrectly installed recirculating system