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- CLOC-AdminWe boondock a fair bit so water conservation is fairly important to us. One thing that irks me is the amount of wasted water waiting for hot water to reach the bathroom sink and shower.
I would like to install a return from the hot water line in the bathroom to the fresh water tank. That way I could redirect the initial cold water back into the FW tank rather than into the grey tank. The basic plumbing isn’t an issue but I am not sure the best way to connect the return line to the FW tank. I was thinking I would simply insert a T into the tank overflow line.
Has anyone done this? Anyone see any problems with this?
Thanks -Rob-Posted: 1:38 PM – Aug 17, 2016I thought about this last month. I agree about the wasted water, especially when dry camping.I think what you really want is a hot water re-circulation pump. There are 12v varieties available. Mount the pump at the water heater, run a new PEX line to the bathroom sink and your good to go. This creates a loop so hot water can be circulated to the bathroom and back again, near the water heater. Flip the pump on and you’ll have instant hot water at the bathroom sink and shower.
I may do this project in the near future.
Posted: 2:09 PM – Aug 17, 2016I have a unit in my stick house that is 110. It eliminates the need for running a return line, essentially tying into the flex lines between the faucet and house plumbing, using the cold as the return line It is pretty compact 6x6x8 inches, sits under the bath sink, but you could put it in the basement. At home you can set for any temp and it turns on and off automatically to maintain that temp. For the RV, you would want it to be controlled by an on/off switch. With such a short run, no head lift, and pipes not buried in heat robbing concrete, that should work great.However, the product name escapes me.
It is similar to:
http://m.homedepot.com/p/Hot-Water-Reci … /100426993
But the pump does not need to be at the hot water heater. It uses the two existing flex lines plus two more included with kit. It does have a long life quiet grunfos pump. But the name escapes me.
Posted: 4:14 PM – Aug 19, 2016My shower takes about 10 seconds to get hot. Shower head is 1.5 gpm, so that’s .15 gallon, or 19 ounces wasted. So it may not be worth the trouble for such a small amount of water.Posted: 7:20 PM – Aug 19, 2016FaithBowls wrote:My shower takes about 10 seconds to get hot. Shower head is 1.5 gpm, so that’s .15 gallon, or 19 ounces wasted. So it may not be worth the trouble for such a small amount of water.Ours is a bit longer than that and when you add in the bathroom vanity several times a day times the 2 of us, it adds up.
Using the cold water return is an interesting idea but I was hoping to avoid adding another pump. A simple valve to divert the water back to the FW tank seems the simplest and easiest.Posted: 4:04 PM – Aug 20, 2016Rob, I’m not sure how you’d plumb the return. If you want to divert the hot feed before the sink tap, you’d have to add a valve under the sink, and turn that on or off each time you use the water.It might be simpler to collect the the water into a bowl or jug and return it to the fresh tank later. A full recirculation system would probably require multiple valves and new plumbing.
Posted: 6:32 PM – Aug 20, 2016Ours is a full 30 seconds at the bath sink.I think all the parts you need can be found at a real plumbing store or Lowes. Lowes seem to have better plumbing supplies than Home Depot or ACE.
Threaded “T” to go between the P-tex fitting and hot water to bath sink faucet hot. What you will add will only be under pressure to the small gate valve you add after what u suggest as a braided flexible hose between the T and the gate valve you install. Operate the gate valve before you buy. Some are soft and easy to turn, some a pia. The latter do not get better. It may take several damples. Drill 2 holes in Bath counter top, or one in the side and one in the counter top. I would want the small gate valve in easy reach above the counter. For the return I would use clear flexible tubing, available by the foot. My guess, 20 feet, but I would buy 30 to make it easy to route without a splice. An adapter to go from the gate valve to a push on/into the clear flex tubing. I would rout to the fresh water tank fill. Insert a “T” in that 1-inch (1.25?) soft hose on the inside of the utility closet, accessible via at sliding door. That T will need 2 hose clamps for the 1-1.25 hose, and some adapters to get the 3rd of T down to the size of the push on/in of the clear flex. When picking a T, keep that 3rd size in mind…
Clearly a lot cheaper and just as effective as an additional circulating pump.
Easy stuff once you empty the main storage and remove a rear wall panel or two. Tough spot is the connection to the fresh water tank. If that new circuit setup was $100, I would definately opt for that versus all of the moving storage and crawling around. At $200, you be the judge.
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Ours is a bit longer than that and when you add in the bathroom vanity several times a day times the 2 of us, it adds up.
Using the cold water return is an interesting idea but I was hoping to avoid adding another pump. A simple valve to divert the water back to the FW tank seems the simplest and easiest.[/quote]Posted: 11:47 PM – Aug 20, 2016I read on another forum where one fellow had used an inexpensive 12V irrigation valve and wired up a switch near the vanity to turn it on for the required amount of time to get the water hot.
I will have to check my local hardware store and see if I can find the necessary fittings to tap into the larger fill hose.
-Rob-Posted: 4:05 PM – Sep 09, 2016http://www.homedepot.com/p/Hot-Water-Re … /100426993
i helped a friend replace his h2o heater at home, he had a thermistat controlled pump type recirc system. it was ten years old and pump was very noisy and unplugged[he just moved in], so we capped it off … we did some research to replace the old system and this is what we foundB.W.Gentry
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