Figuring out a "point of use" water heater for my Aprilaire 360 humidifier

[Melissa2007B]

A blower door test and subsequent air leak sealing may resolve a lot of your need for the humidifier altogether. It should also make the place more comfortable and save energy to both heat and cool. It will also likely help to cut down on dust infiltration.

We had an IR camera eval of the house, and they sealed it up fine, years ago.

For first use in the day, how long does it take to get hot water at the furthest point?

The water heater is on one end, and the house is 80 feet long and 30 wide, so it takes awhile. The water pressure is also diminished at the far end.

Consider that the water coming out of the WH you paid to heat, is just going down the drain, plus, it's being wasted. So, recirculating hot water would mean much less wasted water (that still costs money) along with energy to heat it.

Great point.

A showerhead's max flow is 2.5gpm. Say 2g of that is hot and it takes 90-seconds to get hot before you get in there. That's 3 g of hot you paid to heat that is not doing anything, means you've just added 3-gallons of cold to your WH, making it now hold less hot water, and thus shortening the time you'll have hot water. So, the energy to recirculate the water isn't a total loss, plus, you'll have the convenience of warm/hot water in seconds rather than minutes whenever you wish. It should also solve your water stacking issue as it will create some flow through the WH, and result in some mixing.

Good point, and thanks. And we could insulate the lines. Run an insulated HW line to the furthest HW outlet in the house, then run a line back, from the nearest. Insulating them all would help too, if we can find them, up under that plastic sheeting.

 

[Melissa2007B]

Just realized that the humidistat will have to be done by a HVAC person, and the HW loop and pump will have to be done by a plumber. What's the best way to find an individual licensed plumber in the Denver area, WITHOUT going to one of those rooter places that offer them? They get $600 or MORE per HOUR!

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Jadnashua]

Where I live, a plumber gets about $120/hour with a helper.

If you use the cold line as the return, you may be able to install a hot water recycling system yourself. This works by using a special valve between the hot and cold line that opens when the pump runs so that it can get hot water to the end point. There are lots of different units out there. The one I have has the cross-over valve built into the pump assembly, and the whole thing is installed under the furthest sink from the WH, but here's one that installs at the WH, and a valve under the sink, which may be easier since you won't need to put an outlet under the sink. I added one when I was remodeling, so that was easier for me.

 

[Melissa2007B]

Thanks Jim, but I have a leg injury and cant do crawl space, and we don't want hot water in the cold lines. Wouldnt that flush the toilets with hot water? Anyway, I WISH plumbers cost that in the Denver area. LOL And I'm not even sure how this pex stuff runs. If it's a loop or just a main line with offshoots to each bathroom and the kitchen. My expertise lies elsewhere, I need a plumber.

 

[Jadnashua]

SOrry, wasn't watching as close as I might have been.

The hot water recirculation systems have a sensor in them that stops the flow when the water gets warm, not full hot. That means that hot isn't far away. If your humidifier was closer to the WH, which it appears to be, the hot line would be fully charged with hot water. So, there's no real hot water in the cold line, and from experience, I've found that if I flush the nearby toilet, by the time it is shuts off, the water at the sink is normal temp. This is with the recirculation pump at the end of the line, not at the water heater.

This is the one I currently have... https://documentlibrary.xylemappliedwater.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/22/files/2012/08/671075182A.pdf
The old one lasted about 20-years and was a different model.