instant warm water via thermostatic valve on toilet supply
I want instant tepid water at my bathroom sink faucet. Not hot water, just warmer than what it usually is in the winter. Somehow, I need to get that first cold gallon of water out of the hot water supply. The pros and cons of pumped and passive re-circulation systems have been considered. Especially the cons.
Isn’t there some way to refill to toilet tank with that water? Putting it in the toilet tank would use the water productively instead of wasting it and it would use no extra energy. Best of all, it would promptly provide warm water at the tap each time I use the toilet, which exactly corresponds to when I wash my hands.
My question: what would happen if I supply the toilet with hot & cold lines fed through a thermostatic valve set to minimum temperature? Would that do the trick? Would the valve drain the hot line of its cold water before drawing from the cold line?
–tw
Replies
Check out the TacoGenie recirc pump web site http://www.taco-hvac.com Model 0011-CF-USK.
I use it myself and as a contractor have installed several for my customers. It's not cheap but is a major water saver while giving you hot water without the cold water going down the drain.
You don't need a valve. Just connect the toilet to the hot water supply for the lab. Oh, but that will. waste hot water, you say. No it will work like this. You flush the toilet. The first 1.6 gallons in the pipe refills the tank. That's cold water in the hot water pipe. You wash your hands with the next water in the pipe. The pipe cools off for the next round. You might have to wait for the tank to fill before you wash your hands but most toilets fill pretty fast. If you don't bother to wash your hands after you use the toilet, then maybe you have wasted 1.6 gallons of hot water.