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Author:
bwfixit53 (LA)
I bought a used home with Pegasus faucets that look fairly used but look good.I've replaced Bradford/white electric 50 gal tank in last 2 years and we have good pressure and hot water out of both bathtubs and kitchen has new american standard faucet that's OK.But the bathroom faucets are both about 40 or 45 feet from heater which is in garage in one story home too.It takes forever for hot water to get at bathroom faucet unless you turn on bathtub hot water and instantly hot water comes out of sink faucet.Has anyone ever heard of this and both bathrooms have same problem.Thanks for any advice, bob
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Author:
hj (AZ)
The most likely reason is that the tub has a much higher flow capacity, so the "cool" water will be drained from the long hot line faster. There are other possibilities, but we would have to be there to make our own tests to see if there was some other problem.
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Author:
bwfixit53 (LA)
Thank you aj for the help.That's what I kind of figured but didn't want to pay for plumber to tell me that.There isn't any way to fix that is there besides redoing the plumbing.Is the problem because it takes longer for water to get to sink faucets because of smaller volume pipe?Thanks for your reply.
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Author:
bwfixit53 (LA)
I'm sorry I meant hj.
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Author:
Froyden (IL)
The best way to resolve your problem permanently is to install a recirculating pump. The pump and thermostat are put in just before your furthest faucet/fixture on a given branch of your water line. The pump (and some additional piping) push the cooling -- but still warm -- water back to the water heater on the cold side and keeps the pipe full of nearly hot water almost all the way to the tap. This system will give you hot water at all of the taps on the run within just a few seconds. And since its always a minimum of 85° even when the tap is first turned on, it's instantly warm enough to "start" handwashing and other tasks.
Commonly, the thermostats are set for a high temp of 95°F and a low temp of 85°F. While in "standby" the pump will turn on when the water in the pipe cools to the lower setting and will turn the pump off when the higher temperature setting is reached.
The cooled water is returned to the hot water heater until the water at the pump's thermostat reaches the 95° mark, and then shut off, when it again cools to the lower setting, the cycle starts again.
The water being returned to the water heater is still fairly warm, so it takes a lot less energy to bring it back up to your setting.
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The only alternative that I'm aware of is the one that you've already discovered: Turn on the water in your bathtub for a few seconds while you're waiting for the hot water to reach the sinks.
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Another thing that might help somewhat is to check the faucet on your sink to see if there's a flow restrictor present. If there is, you can try removing it and see if the increased flow helps to any great degree. I think I remember that you said that the the faucet on the sink was newer which would make it much more likely to have a flow restrictor present.
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Sorry for the long (and probably imperfect) description of the recirculating pump, but until someone explained it to me in that way, I had imagined it working very differently and being a much bigger energy hog.
I hope it's at least somewhat helpful.
Edited 1 times.
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Author:
bwfixit53 (LA)
Froyden, thank you so much for the detailed description of the recirculating pump.I don't think I can afford to get that done.It sounds like a lot of re-piping and materials.I'll check into it though and see what it cost.But I appreciate the advice,it gives me another option to consider.
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Author:
hj (AZ)
Yes, but there is a way to fix it. A Grundfos "Comfort System" pump will circulate "warm" water to the faucet so the hot water would arrive faster.
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Author:
hj (AZ)
The Grundfos system DOES that, and all it takes is installing the pump at the heater, about a 10 minute job, and installing a "bypass control valve" under the sink, another 10 minutes.
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Author:
bwfixit53 (LA)
It looks like a too idea.But I will have to think about it.A ten minute job for me would be a four hour job since I'm just a diy plumber.All my pipe to water heater is copper soldered and my solder skills are not great.I might get a pro to come do it when I get the time.I read about those pumps from Lowe's and Home Depot but they didn't seem that good.I'll check out the pump you mentioned.Thanks again for the help.
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Author:
HawaiiPlumber (HI)
There is other systems out there. On Demand is one. Not as proven as some of the higher end systems but can save some money on upfront and installation costs. These come as a kit that hooks up under the sink to the angle stops. You can either get a motion sensor or a button to turn on the pump. The motion sensor is nice because it will sense movement in the bathroom and kick on the pump.
also
Some of the other systems are continues hot. Meaning they keep the supply lines full of hot water. Which is awful for efficiency and will cost you more money in the long run on energy expense. The on demand type systems will save you money in water use.
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