Thursday, December 31, 2009

Solar Water Heaters Save Energy – Now Add Water Savings

Instant Hot Water Will Save You Water and Money!

Now that you’ve heated your water for free from the sun, it’s time to address the hot water delivery system. Stop standing there with your hand in the shower stream waiting for the water to get hot! Sending water down the drain while you wait just makes it that much worse. But there is a solution!

Demand Hot Water Pumps Save Water

A demand system pumps the hot water from your water heater to your fixture at fast without running any water down the drain. When hot water reaches the pump, it shuts off.

Turn On the Tap and Get Instant Hot Water

Now when you turn on the tap you have nearly instant hot water. When you desire hot water you just push the start button and the pump starts up, pumping the water from the water heater to the sink. At the same time it sends the cooled-off hot water in the back to the heater through the cold water lines.

Solar Powered Water Heater – Any Kind

Demand systems will work with any type of water heater including any kind of solar water heater. Direct, indirect, batch, or any other kind of solar installation will work with a demand system.

The longer the pipes the more wait time you have for hot water and the more water gets run down the drain. Often solar water heaters have more piping than standard water heater installations. This is especially true for batch type systems that have a storage tank of hot water up on the roof.

Hot water demand system pumps use very little electricity for their operation, normally less than $2.00 per year in electricity costs. Demand pumps use no more energy than if you did not have one, other than that $2.00 in electricity.

A hot water demand pump does nearly the same thing you do… turn on the hot water until it reaches the sink. The demand pump usually pumps the water to the fixture much more quickly than just running the water down the drain.

Low flow fixtures cause slow hot water.

The time it takes for water to reach the fixture is determined by the diameter of the pipe and the gallons per minute of flow. Larger pipe takes longer to fill and cause longer waits.

Higher flow rates result in higher water speeds and shorter wait times. It’s impractical to change your pipe diameter; however you can raise the flow rate by not having to run water through a low flow fixture.

Bathroom sink fixtures are often one gallon per minute or less. This means a long waiting period for you to get your hot water.

The solar powered water heater efficiently heats your water; now turn your hot water plumbing layout green and make it efficient by adding a demand pump for fast hot water and water savings.

Solar water heating and hot water demand pumps are a perfect combination for ecology and environmentally conscious home owners.

You can even use tankless water heaters with your solar water heater and a demand pump for an energy efficient, water saving, hot water plumbing system that can also provide you with unlimited hot water. Combine Tankless and Solar Water Heaters