When I turn on my hot water faucet in the morning or evening, it takes 2-3 minutes before the water is hot. What are some ways that I can get hot water faster and not wasting water?

 

A return loop with or without a pump to the water heater can be installed that keeps the primary line hot. This is effective but energy wasteful.

The make a small recirculating pump that goes under the bathroom sink..... or the farthest sink from the water heater. It gets installed in the hot and cold water lines. It draws water from the hot side and sends it back thru the cold side until there is hot water. it has a timer on it so that it only works at certain times. You could have it setup to start just before you wake up or need the hot water. The unit is energy efficient and no water is wasted.

I installed one for a friend and he turns it on manually in the morning to get the water hot and then again at night. It only takes a few minutes.

The unit in the link is timer controlled and is one of several available..
recirculating/preheat system

 

You could install a small on-demand water heater under the sink. However, the power requirements needed to operate them can be quite large depending on your water flow and incoming water temperature.

 

I believe they also make faucets (or something you connect to the faucets?) that requires no power and just allows a very small amount of bleed over between hot and cold? I swear I have seen such a beast, but can't find anything now. Maybe it wasn't successful?

I see what they call a thermospheric system, but that is for specific circumstances and would have to be in the initial design or would entail a lot of rework.

 

Thanks for the all the responses. I'll checkout the recirculating/preheat system.

 

Looks like the Watts 500800 is a bit cheaper from Amazon. However, my question is, do I need to shutoff the gas to my hot water tank into install this? I saw a Youtube video that suggest the gas be shutoff and the pilot light to be off. I'm not sure if this is necessary or require.

 

Do yourself a favor.. Get the taco unit. Much better then the watts or grunfos systems.

The check valve is superior.

https://www.tacocomfort.com/products...ink/index.html

https://www.amazon.com/Taco-HLS-1-Ho...33491508&psc=1

 

Another thing I was wondering is, is it possible to have multiple schedules e.g. morning and night?

 

Yup, the Taco unit Mike suggested has a timer on it that will run on/off in 15-min increments. So it could go on between 6:30-8:00 to get hot water in the morning, then again when you get home from 6pm-10pm (or whatever)

 

It's also a good idea with these units to make sure your hot water pipes are well insulated anywhere they are exposed, so you're not wasting a bunch of energy keeping 50 feet of bare copper pipe hot. You can pick up foam pipe insulation at any hardware store and it's easy to install with just a pair of scissors.

 

My question about scheduling is, I want to turn on 5AM to 7AM and 4PM-9PM (Monday-Friday). On the weekends, I want to turn on 7AM-9AM and 6PM-9PM. Is this possible with any recirculation pump?

 

Each pump is going to be different. You'll need to read its specs.

Judging by the picture of that Taco pump.... it only has daily scheduling.
That means you couldn't program around the weekends.

Just set it.... 5AM-9AM and 4PM-9PM.

Just so you understand how that type of system works..... when called on..... it circulates the hot water line thru the cold water only until the hot water line is hot and then it shuts off. If it kept circulating you'd have no cold water. The reticulation will restart when the hot water line cools down.

If you insulate the hot water pipes..... you may need to just run it for an hour or two each period as the water won't cool off that fast. It will be a little experimental at first.

Typically the hot water will stay hot for an hour or so.

 

They have a similar system that learns your use.. But its problematic that is you use at 1 pm one day it will recic the next day at 1pm. It resets once a week. It pulses 10 minutes otherwise.

https://www.tacocomfort.com/products...lus/index.html

The ideal system is a button..

Taco genie..

Hit a button for instant hot.

https://www.tacocomfort.com/products...nie/index.html

 

Thank you for all the ideas and posts, much appreciated!

 

Consider also the chilipepperapp.com pump. This also pumps the cooled hot water back through the cold line or through a new return line if you can run one. But instead of running on a timer , you push a button to bring in the hot only when you want it. Doesn't get you instant hot water as you have to wait for the pump, but, you don't waste water down the drain and you don't lose a lot of waste heat in the return line and you don't have to run a return line.

 

An idea I have been considering:
Install a 5-10 gallon electric water heater inline with the hot water line to the bathroom. The small tank would provide instant hot water, and eventually the incoming water feeding it would be hot enough to shut off the electric element.
Would this work?