Hot Water Recirculation Loop - Save Water - Camp Longer

JRscooby wrote:

Camper_Jeff_&_Kelli wrote:

JRscooby wrote:
LOL. I use a bucket to catch the water you are saving.

My way is way cooler than a bucket and I don't have to screw around with lose water splashing about. Sure it cost time and money, being retired, I have lots of both. I know the water going back into the tank is clean. Bucket water is good for toilets. The water is much more useful to me in the tank!

Well, decades back, plumbing my aunt's new house I ran 3 lines to each fixture that use hot water. Uncle figured the solar heater could heat water recirculating back to tank not need to waste water or the electricity to heat it. Aunt loves not waiting for hot water.
My house, built in '50s, I have a small tank heater under the kitchen sink. A timer turns it off/on so I have instant hot water when I'm most likely cooking/cleaning. Yes, the bucket is used in bathroom then flushes toilet when needed.
I'm not saying your idea is bad. But when you think about the small percentage of time most RV owners spend in them compared to S&B the idea would be better in homes.
BTW, for the people that want to extend time on tanks; Save your dish wash water in a bucket w/lid, use to flush saves fresh and grey water tank space. Capture and save dish rinse water. Heat fresh, add to that rinse for next wash.

Valve and

As a retired home builder, I've installed several recirculation systems. I spend a solid 5 months a year in my TC. Much of it in remote locations. Thismod will work well for me. I don't want to have to think about things, I just want them to work and be convenient. With all the improvements I've made to my TC, it's pretty darn convenient especially with the solar, just like a house now only smaller a d the bathroom should be 2 inches wider. Or I should be 30 pounds thinner.

StirCrazy wrote:

Camper_Jeff_&_Kelli wrote:

Dave D. wrote:
This might be useful for winter camping. Hot water won't freeze up. Although shouldn't the recirculation return to the hot water tank, not the main tank? At least this is how I plumbed my house's recirc. heat.

The water needs to return to the low pressure side of the pump to cause a pressure drop so the pump will start. Returning to the water heater has no pressure drop because it's on the pressure side of the pump so the pump won't activate because no pressuredrophappens. You could return water to the cold Input of the water heater but to make it work, you would need a small pump and a check valve to prevent backflow. Another way to connect if you can make room is to put the return connection to the pipe between the tank and the pump. This way, there is a low pressure connection to the fresh tank and the water will recirulate directly into the intake side of the pump and get pumped right back out into the system, not into the tank

neet idea but I think if I were to implement this I would not return it to the tank but rather create a loop from the hot water heater and use a small circ pump. that way you could use it even if you had water hookups but now sewer.

True, it won't work when hooked up to citi water but then it's an endless supply of water so running the water to get hot doesn't matter since water is unlimited. When hooked up to city water, I run the water anyway to get the hose smell and taste from the hose out of the line. I have a blue hose that isn't supposed to smell but it does, just not as bad as the white hose.

JRscooby wrote:

My house, built in '50s, I have a small tank heater under the kitchen sink. A timer turns it off/on so I have instant hot water when I'm most likely cooking/cleaning. Yes, the bucket is used in bathroom then flushes toilet when needed.

You're a bucket dumper in your house? Wow

Although maybe giving rise to my next question....
Why does it appear that you cannot just tell someone "Hey, looks great, bet it works well." and stop there?

Having flushed more than one water heating tank I would not want to return from it to my fresh water tank . But that’s just me

ticki2 wrote:
Having flushed more than one water heating tank I would not want to return from it to my fresh water tank . But that’s just me

I can guarantee you there is not much difference in internal appearance between your home hot water heater and your RV water heater. Being from Seattle, we enjoy as clean and soft water as you can get anywhere so inside the tank doesn't look too bad. I have never gotten a cup of water heater water at any sink location that looked in the least bit questionable. I have no problem drinking hot water in the shower or brushing teeth. Never had a problem with it. Even so, the amount that will find it's way back into the fresh tank is small so I'm just not worried. If it really bothers you, you can connect the return line to just between the tank and the pump. That way, tank mixing will be nearly 0 and the loop water will simply be drawn into the pump and recirculated immediately back to the water heater.

Camper_Jeff_&_Kelli wrote:

True, it won't work when hooked up to citi water but then it's an endless supply of water so running the water to get hot doesn't matter since water is unlimited.

This is the problem I have; Just because pipes carry it instead of you does not mean water is unlimited.

Grit dog wrote:

JRscooby wrote:

My house, built in '50s, I have a small tank heater under the kitchen sink. A timer turns it off/on so I have instant hot water when I'm most likely cooking/cleaning. Yes, the bucket is used in bathroom then flushes toilet when needed.

You're a bucket dumper in your house? Wow

Although maybe giving rise to my next question....
Why does it appear that you cannot just tell someone "Hey, looks great, bet it works well." and stop there?

My house, and I bet most in the country, I turn on water in shower, wait for heater to kick on, heated water starts to flow, get temperature adjusted, divert to shower head, there is over a gallon in the bucket.
Now this gallon was been pumped from city well, been thru the treatment plant, and pumped to my house. After it goes down the drain, it must be pumped a couple more times to get to sewage treatment plant, treated, then dumped in river.
My low-flow toilet has 2 flushes. If there is solids in the bowl, dumps about twice as much as just liquid. But if water in bucket, dump in bowl, then use the small flush, I have a clean toilet and saved that gallon of water.
I do think the OP's idea is good. The issue I have/want to point out is just like all the solar panels, and LED lights everybody talks about to reduce power use in camper, it would be better to do the mods to our homes where we could save the most power, or in this case, water.

Camper_Jeff_&_Kelli wrote:

StirCrazy wrote:

Camper_Jeff_&_Kelli wrote:

Dave D. wrote:
This might be useful for winter camping. Hot water won't freeze up. Although shouldn't the recirculation return to the hot water tank, not the main tank? At least this is how I plumbed my house's recirc. heat.

The water needs to return to the low pressure side of the pump to cause a pressure drop so the pump will start. Returning to the water heater has no pressure drop because it's on the pressure side of the pump so the pump won't activate because no pressuredrophappens. You could return water to the cold Input of the water heater but to make it work, you would need a small pump and a check valve to prevent backflow. Another way to connect if you can make room is to put the return connection to the pipe between the tank and the pump. This way, there is a low pressure connection to the fresh tank and the water will recirulate directly into the intake side of the pump and get pumped right back out into the system, not into the tank

neet idea but I think if I were to implement this I would not return it to the tank but rather create a loop from the hot water heater and use a small circ pump. that way you could use it even if you had water hookups but now sewer.

True, it won't work when hooked up to citi water but then it's an endless supply of water so running the water to get hot doesn't matter since water is unlimited. When hooked up to city water, I run the water anyway to get the hose smell and taste from the hose out of the line. I have a blue hose that isn't supposed to smell but it does, just not as bad as the white hose.

I thought this was about not filling the waist take up as fast. I have camped in several places that have water and power but you dump on the way out if there is a dump. ya I have both a blue and white house in the 5th wheel, the only thing I noticed about the blue one is it costs more ;)

Well, I stand corrected scooby. Guess I never considered the wastefulness of $.30-$.60 per month of residential water bill charges.

First, I have installed a recirculation/conserving system in my campers since 1995.
Second, the water should return to the cold holding tank. If the water was hot at the faucet you don’t need to recirculate it. The reason to recirculate is to get hot water to the faucet and return the cold water in the line to the tank,
Third, I use a cheap inline irrigation valve ($10 to $12) and a $2 doorbell button. No need to go to specialty valves and pumps.

Just watched the video, now I get what is meant by the OP's use of the term "recirculating." He is describing recycling cold water back to the main tank. To me, I was thinking "instant on" recirculating hot water, which creates a loop from and back to the hot water tank, which is driven by a recirculating pump, different than the main pressure pump. This loop is always heated, and when a hot water fixture is used the pressure drop in the loop turns on the main pump which actually provides the driving force for water to come out of the faucet.

This would keep the hot water from freezing; the back-to-main-tank loop would not. With properly insulated lines it should not pull too much extra duty from the hot water tank. This is how it works in my house -- even in rooms farthest away from my boiler/hot water tank I have hot water right away.