Comment on Wasting water with tankless heater

• OhmsLawn@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  They make instant recirculation pumps that cycle the water through the tankless in a loop and stop when the hot water gets back to the pump. We have one. If you don’t already have the return pipes for it, you’d need some additional plumbing work. (Either way, it should be professionally installed).

  It’s the same system you’d have for a tank, but it can’t run all the time, or it burns up the heater. You have to trigger it. They make flow switches, but mine (new construction) was cheesed. I just set up a zigbee switch with a 1 minute timer to trigger the pump.

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• Bell@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  If wiring and plumbing allow, install another tankless heater closer to the shower. I just put one into my one bedroom apartment and it was reasonably simple and small.

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  • crozilla@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Unfortunately, the shower has no exposed plumbing and the gas line is back near the ground floor heater.

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    • Fondots@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I don’t think I’ve ever seen a shower in the US (assuming you’re in the US) without access to the plumbing somewhere, I’m sure they probably exist somewhere, but it’s not common in my experience, usually there’s a little access panel on the other side of the wall somewhere, maybe hidden in a closet or behind a piece of furniture or something. If there’s not, I’d consider adding one anyway, at some point if you’re there long enough you’re probably going to want access to it for some issue or project that comes up down the line.

      They make small tankless electric water heaters that run off of regular 110V outlets for heating a single sink or shower, if there’s convenient electrical nearby you may be able to just hook one of those up.

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      • oldGregg@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        This is not my experience at all. I haven’t had a single house where the plumbing was accessible

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      • falsem@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Living in the US I've never seen what you're describing

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      • Alexstarfire@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        The house I purchased is the first time I’ve ever even seen access to shower pipes. I’ve got an access panel in my closet to a space above the garage that has access to the ones for the guest bath. I’m pretty sure it’s not intentional either since the space goes to the master bath as well yet the shower is set up in a way that doesn’t have access.

        In my experience you usually have to tear out parts of a wall to access shower/tub plumbing. Definitely seems dumb now that someone pointed it out.

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      • jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Cheapskate subdivision builders commonly build on concrete slabs anymore with no way to access plumbing.

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      • altima_neo@lemmy.zip ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Never seen that. Always gotta break open dry wall for that kinda work.

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    • SheeEttin@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      You’ll have to relocate the heater closer to the shower. You can have someone run the gas line to the new location. That’s about all you can do.

      You could insulate the hot water pipe, but that will only help when the water in the pipe is already hot, like if someone showered earlier. It only extends the time the water already in the pipe remains hot.

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      • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        They could install a small - around 2 gallon - electric water heater near the shower. I have a similar problem in my kitchen and it was solved quite cheaply by putting one of those under the sink.

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