Instant Hot Water – Anywhere in the Cabin

I came from Ft. Lauderdale when I moved into the log cabin in Hendersonville, NC. I was really really not acclimated to the cold. Every time I turned the water on to wash my hands I had to wait and wait for the water to be warm enough.

Then I saw the solution. Instant hot water – anywhere in the house.

The advertisement said:

How much water is wasted waiting for water to warm up?

An average home has 125 feet of 3/4″ pipe. 125 feet of 3/4″ pipe holds 3.14 gallons of water. If hot water is used 10 times per day, 31 gallons of water is wasted running the faucets/ shower to get hot water. In a year, this equals to 11,461 gallons of water. 25.2 million homes waste approximately 300 billion gallons of water annually.

How does the Instant Hot Water Recirculating System work?

A pump with a built-in timer is installed on the hot water line from the water heater.

A patented sensor valve  opens when the water on the hot water side cools and pushes the cool water back to the water heater. As the temperature in the hot water line hits 98º, the valve closes.

Some homes are designed with multiple hot water loops, one per floor, etc. If one section of the house does not receive hot water, you will need to purchase a Watts Sensor Valve Kit  for each loop. For best results, the valve should be located at the faucet furthest from the water heater in each loop.

Watts Comfort Series Model 500800 Instant Hot Water Recirculating System

Never wait for hot water again! The Watts® Hot Water Recirculating System provides hot water at every faucet or shower when needed, eliminating wasted water. It is easy to install and requires no additional piping. The unique design of the pump ensures quiet, maintenance-free operation. The system includes a built-in 24 hour, dual setting programmable timer to activate the pump only when needed.

• Conserve Water-Up to 15,000 gallons of water per year
• Save Money-Up to 10% of your water bill
• Maintenance Free
• Easy to install in less than 1 hour

No better time!

Well that all sounds really good! While I was thinking about it, my hot water heater overheated and overflowed all over my new hardwood floor.

No better time! As long as we are replacing the hot water heater, we added the recirculating pump.

Here are more details:

• Pump and Comfort Valve CS-VW
• Drinking Water System Components
• Maximum Temperature 140 degrees

Those are all good things. We aren’t going to drink from the hot water tap, but still…

I ordered one on Amazon and my son-in-law put it in for me while he was replacing the hot water heater.
I love it! We only turn it on in the winter. And the water is instantly hot!

The timer is easy to reach. The hot water heater is right next to the washer and dryer in the closet in the dining room.

We put the sensor valve in the bathroom off the bedroom, since it is the furthest from the hot water heater.

We made the sink base from a Jenny Lind baby changing table so that it would match the Jenny Lind bed.

Project: Converting a Jenny Lind Baby Changing Table into a Bath Vanity >
Why is it called a Jenny Lind Bed? >

If you look carefully, you can see the sensor valve from the  Hot Water Recirculating System. We have instant hot water. The sensor valve opens when the water on the hot water side cools and pushes the cool water back to the water heater. When the water gets hot, the valve closes.

I am updating and finishing this post ten years later.
The pump still works fine. No problems at all.
I love it so much we bought one for my husband’s house when we moved there.
We are building a new house and we will put one there.

You do have to tell guests what is up. When it is running, warm water comes out of the cold tap initially, which makes them think your taps are labeled wrong.

When I got married, we at first were at my husband’s house. It was two-story, so we had to put in two of the Sensor Valves.

So here is the box:

Front of the box

Back of the box

System includes:

• Motor and Timer
• 10 ft. Electric Cord
• Sensor Valve
• Two 12 in. Supply Lines
• Two Universal Adapters

Instruction

More detailed instructions came in the box.

Pump Installation

Pump Mounting: For Indoor Use Only

1. Close the supply water valve to the water heater located, in most cases, above the water heater on the cold water inlet to the hot water heater.
2. Drain the water from the hot water pipe by opening a hot water faucet in the house. Let the water run until it stops flowing. Then drain remaining water from hot water heater spigot. Leave the faucet in the house open until pump installation is complete. If water does not stop flowing, check to make sure the water to the hot water heater has been completely shut off.

3. Disconnect the hot water heater at the hot water discharge. (see Picture #1)

4. Install pump onto the water heater discharge, using the 3/4″ female fitting. The pump should be installed so that the pump is pumping away from the hot water heater, towards the house. Confirm the direction of pumping by observing the flow arrow on the side of the pump housing (See Picture #2). Be sure that the pump is not touching the exhaust vent piping (chimney) of a gas or oil fired hot water heater.
5. Connect the hot water line to the 3/4″ NPT discharge of the pump. Use pipe dope or Teflon tape to seal threads when connecting to a 3/4 female NPT connection. If a gasketed flexible copper water heater connector is used, pipe dope or Teflon tape is not required.
6. Reopen the supply valve to the hot water heater and allow the water to run until all the air has been purged from the piping.
7. Close faucet inside the house.
8. Plug the line cord of pump into a 115V outlet. Be sure to route the power cord so that it does not touch the exhaust vent piping of a gas or oil fired hot water heater.
9. Using the timer, set the pump to operate around your peak use times. (ie. 30 minutes before the first shower until 15 minutes after last shower).

The top photo is from the ad, the photo below is from the box.

Sensor Valve Installation

Sensor Valve Location For the greatest effect, the valve should be located at a faucet with the greatest piping distance from the hot water heater. If your home has a branched hot water line, more than one Sensor Valve may be necessary.

NOTE: Do not use Teflon tape or pipe dope on the Sensor Valve threads.

3/8″ Stop Valve Installation

1. Close both the hot and cold stop valves below the sink (see Picture 3).
2. Place supplied rubber washers in female end of adapters. Attach adapters to both “Cold Water Out” and “Hot Water Out” ports of Sensor Valve. Finger tight plus a quarter turn with wrench.

3. Disconnect existing supply line connection from both hot and cold stop valves and then connect to adapter, attach to Sensor Valve (see Picture 4).

4. Connect the new 1/2″ x 3/8″ flex hose to the hot water stop valve (3/8″ side) and the “Hot Water In” port (1/2″ side) of the Sensor Valve (see Picture 5). Connect the remaining 1/2″ x 3/8″ flex hose to the cold water stop valve.
5. Open both the hot water and cold water stop valves.

6. If desired, Sensor Valve can be mounted to the wall with the mounting screws (see Figure 1).

1/2″ or Other Stop Valve Installation

1. Close both the hot and cold stop valves below the sink (see Picture 3).
2. Place supplied rubber washers in female end of adapters. Attach adapters to both “Cold Water Out” and “Hot Water Out” ports of Sensor Valve. Finger tight plus a quarter turn with wrench.
3. Disconnect existing supply line connection from faucet connection leave stop valve connection in place. Take disconnected end and attach to “Hot Water In” and “Cold Water In” connections respectively

4. Connect the new 1/2″ x 3/8″ flex hose to the already installed adapter (on Sensor Valve) (3/8″ side) and the faucet connection (1/2″ side) for both Hot Water and Cold Water respectively (see Picture 5).
5. Open both the hot water and cold water stop valves.

6. If desired, Sensor Valve can be mounted to the wall with the mounting screws (see Figure 1).

SENSOR VALVE OPERATION

If there is no hot water at the faucet or there appears to be too much hot water on the cold water side the following steps will determine if the valve is operating correctly:

1. Close the cold water stop valve below the sink.
2. Open the cold water faucet.
3. Water should slowly flow from the faucet until hot water reaches the valve. The flow should gradually decrease until no water is coming from the faucet at which time the valve is closed.

Time Setting

NOTE: DO NOT SET THE TIME BY ROTATING “OUTER” DIAL. TO SET THE CURRENT TIME, TURN THE MINUTE HAND CLOCKWISE.

Turn the minute hand clockwise until time of day on the outer dial is aligned with the triangle marker on the inner dial.

Example for 10:30 AM
Turn the minute hand clockwise until 10:30 AM is aligned with the triangle on the inner dial.
The hour and the minute dial will show exactly 10:30.

Programming

24-Hour (Timer manual switch position)

The 24-Hour dial has quarter-hour division tabs plus AM/PM indications. Set the required “ON/OFF” times on the programing ring by pushing the tabs away from or towards the center of the ring. Tabs pushed away from the center ring indicate circulator “ON” while tabs pushed towards the center ring indicate circulator is switched “OFF”.

The circulator will now start/stop according to the settings of the programming tabs.

In case of power outage the timer will not keep time. Repeat time setting step when power is restored.