Usually conserving water is a painful process. Low flow toilets conserve water, but most people who have used them complain about their operation…needing to flush multiple times etc. How about low flow shower heads and faucets? Again, for most of us it’s not a painless way to conserve water. It’s emotionally painful, at least for me. How about all those brown yards with dead lawns? And not being able to wash your car…that’s painful isn’t it?
Well the good news is there is a way to save a lot of water without the pain and it’s called a hot water demand system! In fact, this way of saving water is actually a convenience for the user. It’s called a hot water demand system (or demand hot water system), and it can save a typical family of 4 up to 16,000 gallons of water per year according to one manufacturer, and 10,000 gallons per year according to another.
A hot water demand system consists of a small pump that mounts under the sink in a bathroom or kitchen. When the user “demands” hot water, by pressing a button, the pump begins pumping water out of the water heater, and when the hot water reaches the pump, the pump shuts off. The cooled-off hot water in the hot water pipes is pumped into the cold water line, and back into the water heater inlet. It just pumps the water in a big loop out of the heater and back in. Since the pump shuts off when hot water reaches the pump, little if any hot water makes it into the cold water line.
Since the pump only runs for a very short time, typically less than a minute, it uses very little electricity. Usually these pumps use less than a dollar or two per year of electricity. With some of the systems the pumps are powerful enough that you get your hot water in half the normal time.
If you have a tankless water heater then you are probably wasting even more water waiting for the hot to arrive, since a tankless water heater takes time to heat the water and a storage tank type heater does not. However, it takes a certain amount of flow to turn on a tankless water heater so you must be sure the pump you purchase has enough power.
There are a number of hot water circulating systems on the market, and not all of them are “demand” systems. Traditional circulating systems require a separate return line for the hot water, and the pumps run continuously. These traditional systems use a tremendous amount of energy keeping the hot water pipes full of hot water. The water heater has to work a lot harder and can wear out much more quickly. Tankless systems won’t work with traditional hot water circulating systems.
There are also a class of circulating systems that are kind of half way between the traditional system and the demand system. They use the cold water line as the return line like real demand systems, but they operate on a temperature cycle like some traditional systems. That is, when the water cools down to a pre-determined temperature the pump turns on, and when the water reaches a pre-determined high temperature the pump shuts off. The pump cycles on and off continuously keeping the water in the pipes kind of luke warm. These systems will not work with tankless water heaters either. The pumps are too small to pump enough water to turn them on.
These temperature controlled cold water return line systems also use a lot of energy since they keep the hot water (and cold water) pipes full of warm water. They aren’t as bad as the full time traditional systems, but they consume one heck of a lot more energy than a true demand system.
When considering purchasing such a system be sure to check with your local water company and or city government to see if any rebates are being offered. There are water companies that offer rebates, and some rebate as much as $200.00 per home. That’s actually more than the retail price for at least one brand of demand system.
By: William Lund
Posts Tagged ‘Water Pipes’
Painless Water Conservation?. It’s Easy With a Hot Water Demand System
November 22nd, 2009Saving Money, Conserving Energy and Lowering Your Carbon Footprint Too
November 9th, 2009Home heating prices are lower than they were in 2007 but we cannot be sure how long that will continue. I had to investigate ways to use less home heating oil. I could not continue to put home heating oil on my credit cards. A few of my home heating oil bills in the winter of 2007 were over $900.00 each. In my research I found that saving money by conserving energy was much easier than I thought it would be. I used one less tank of oil last winter.
I credit these 5 items with saving the majority of that tank of oil. I did many other things too but I believe that these made the most difference.
Cover your hot water heater with a blanket. It helps to keep your water hotter. This really does help to keep the heat in the system. To save more energy lower the temperature on the hot water heater to 120 degrees before you cover it.
Wrap your hot water pipes. This also helps to keep the heat in your system and not escaping into the air. If you live where it gets consistently below freezing during the winter you should be wrapping your cold water pipes too.
Buy a programmable thermostat. I find myself not touching the thermostat anymore now that it’s programmable. It used to be too easy to turn up the heat before. So much so that I would hardly realize I was doing it. I would turn it up, get sidetracked and forget that I did it until I wondered why I was getting so warm. That was all wasted energy.
Lower your thermostat at night. The house does not have to be toasty warm when you are sleeping. As long as it’s comfortable when you’re falling asleep it doesn’t matter if the temperature drops a little while your sleeping. You can always throw on another blanket if you get cold during the night.
Now to address the fact that the windows are cold even if you have curtains. The cold windows do lower your room temperature. For those of you that have nice thick thermal curtains you are one step ahead of the game. I do not like to shrink wrap my windows even if it will help me to retain heat. I want to be able to open my windows on the nicer fall and winter days to let fresh air in. My answer to that was bubble wrap.
In the course of my research, I came across a few different sources that mentioned bubble wrap. I thought I would give it a try. You just cut it to the exact measurements of the glass. You lightly spritz the flat side of the wrap with water and place it on the glass. No caulk, no glue. no mess.
The heat in your room is not being canceled out by the cold air coming off of the windows.
These changes helped to make my home heating system more energy efficient because the heat was not escaping into thin air. It was helping to keep my hot water warmer and and to keep the heat available to my baseboard heating system. You don’t have to replace your old system to have your home be more energy efficient.
You don’t have to buy solar panels or a solar hot water system in order to make your home more energy efficient. There are a lot of things you can do to make the home heating system you currently have more energy efficient.
It’s a win win situation. You are saving money by conserving energy and lowering your carbon footprint at the same time. That’s good for you and good for the environment.
There are many things that you can do yourself. The most expensive part of this was the programmable thermostat. I bought all of my supplies a little bit at a time. Believe me, you’ll enjoy seeing those home heating costs going down with each and every delivery. I don’t cringe when I get those bills anymore.
By: Teresa Kaufman
Inexpensive Energy Conserving Products and Technologies – 3 Low Cost Ways to Lower Your Utility Bills
September 5th, 2009What do you do after you have changed out the light bulbs that will not cost you an arm and a leg? Actually there are a number of products that I will cover in this article that don’t cost much but can save you a lot of money.
Whether you believe in global warming or not, conserving energy makes sense on many levels. I have been in the conservation business since 1992 and have always understood that as much as we want to do what is right for the planet, unless I could prove the economic value of a product not many people would buy it.
Here are some options you might not have considered yet (and if you have, why haven’t you implemented them?) Some ideas have not been traditionally thought of as energy conservation strategies but at closer look they are. Other ideas have been around for awhile but recent advancements might mean it’s time for an upgrade.
For the purposes of this article I am going to focus on products that reduce hot water consumption. Studies show that 30% to 40% of water consumed in a residential environment is heated.
I am going to assume that you have already installed low-flow showerheads and aerators, low-flush toilets and replaced your energy wasting light bulbs. If you haven’t, bookmark this page and go do it.
Idea #1
Check your building pressure: Higher pressure means that more water is being forced through the low-flow faucets and aerators you installed. Since they are already restricting flow, reduce the pressure in 5 psi increments until the service level is no longer satisfactory. It is difficult to say what pressure is the right pressure – it changes from building to building. If you have a pressure regulator already installed there is no cost to implementing this strategy – experiment with it.
Idea #2
Drip Stop Faucet Washers: 90% of leaks occur in hot water pipes – some are easy to spot, others are hard to find. If you follow these steps you can pinpoint any problems and then take action to stop the bleeding. First, check all of your faucets. If they are leaking – fix them! The best replacement washers are made by Drip Stop. Google them, go to their website (turn off the annoying dripping sound) and buy them. Their patented design uses your faucet’s own internal pressure to create a tight seal which actually makes your faucets easier to turn off as well.
Next turn off all of the fixtures and go look at the meter. Most utilities are now using meters with a spinner on the face that indicates even the smallest amount passing through the meter. Again if you have a leak -fix it!
Idea #3
Lower-Flow Showerheads: That’s right, lower flow. When they first came out they were just watered down (pardon the pun) versions of the old guzzlers with flow restrictors. Nobody liked the way they felt but over the years advances were made and there are a number of low-flow showerheads that conserve while providing a quality showering experience.
But they have evolved and now there are an even better ones available and here are 4 reasons why:
1.) One is rated at 1.59 gpm versus the old 2.5 gpm wasters. This can save an average family of 3 about $155 per year – at around $40 your payback is under 4 months!
2.) When we are pre-warming the water before we get in the shower most of us on the faucet and let it run while we do other things. 1 or 2 minutes later we return to a shower filled with steam, adjust the temperature and step in.
One manufacturer has patented a technology that actually turns off the water once it reaches 95°F. You can go about your business until you are ready, pull on a chain and take your shower. This increases the savings by another $75 per year, for a total of $230 saved per year. That’s a 2 month payback at $40 per shower head!!
3.) The demise of most showerheads is clogging from lime (or other minerals) deposits. Many new models have anti-clog spray nozzles that are cleaned by dragging you finger across the nozzle tips while the water is running.
4.) Pressure can drastically change the amount of water flowing through your fixtures (see Idea #1 above). Some new models use pressure compensating technology that helps maintain a consistent flow rate across the spectrum of building pressure from high to low. And they feel great, even with lower pressure.
The best of the new fixtures that I have found are called the Evolve Showerhead and are available at The Energy Conservation Store online. And one of their polished chrome or brushed nickel showerhead (hand held also available) would look great with any decor.
There are other options but I have run out of time. If you have any questions please send me an email at the link below.
By: Mark Franklin
