Hot water goes cold in the pipes: what to do

[echnidna]

and they're not real reliable too.
got a couple and a real pain to get serviced.

[Groggy]

http://www.spec-net.com.au/extras/zipindustries3.html

But it would be cheaper to drive to town everytime you wanted a cuppa. Boy these things cost!

We have a new water cooler at work. It gets the water from the atmosphere and provides both hot and chilled water. Pity it didn't get its power from the air too!


Oh yeah, they make a zip unit look like a bargain - $2k each plus servicing costs around $1k pa.

[Bodgy]

Silent

If you can analyse where you want your instant hotwater, you can install a small, electric unit that gives both boiling and 1 degree water. A mate put one into his kitchen, works well and due to the infrequent usage the extra energy costs are negligible. Probably a bit of CAPEX and extra plumbing tho.

[Cliff Rogers]

Build a dam, then you don't have to worry about your water.

There's a bloke in Brissy who can give you a few hints.

[silentC]

Build a dam

What, and just add water?

I'm going to order one of the Enviro Save thermo valves and have a play with it. Just what I need - another project.

[Ianab]

My uncle had the same problem in his house.
Solution was to fit a 2nd small conventional electric hot water cylinder under the kitchen bench just serving the kitchen. Laundy and bathrooms at the other end of the house were on a seperate large cylinder.

No complex plumbing, no long runs of pipe to try and lag, no pumps etc.

The small cost of keeping the 2nd (well insulated) cylinder hot was easily offset by not having to waste all that extra hot water from the main cylinder. The small tank can also be wired to the offpeak power meter if you have that system.

Any system that involves circulating water to keep the pipes warm is going to waste a lot of power, the system is going to loose heat out of the pipes just the same, except that it's going to be replaced by heat from the tank. Yes it will give you hot water at the tap, but it will waste a lot of energy doing it.

Cheers

Ian

[dazzler]

When I was a kid we lived in a navy house that had a gas heater in the bathroom.

you lit this little pilot light and then turned it so it faced under the big round cylinder and then it went "woof" and heated the hot water and it came out of a shower rose or into the bath. Instant hot water

Cooooool or should that be HOT

dazzler the reminiscer

[echnidna]

When I was a kid we lived in a navy house that had a gas heater in the bathroom.

you lit this little pilot light and then turned it so it faced under the big round cylinder and then it went "woof" and heated the hot water and it came out of a shower rose or into the bath. Instant hot water

Cooooool or should that be HOT

dazzler the reminiscer

The modern ones don't even have a pilot, they use on demand auto ignition.

[silentC]

Solution was to fit a 2nd small conventional electric hot water cylinder under the kitchen bench

The idea has merit. Like I said, that's what the old man wanted to do. We might still do it down the track, trouble is our place has two kitchens (dual occupancy), so everything is times 2.

We don't use that much hot water in the kitchen actually, which is why I did it the way I did. We have a dishwasher, which heats it's own hot water. We rarely wash dishes in the sink. The kitchen tap is mostly used for cold water for drinks, rinsing things and filling the kettle. The hot is used ocassionally to rinse pans before going in the dishwasher. I think Mum probably uses the hot water in her kitchen more than we do. They have their own cylinder and pay their own bills

[silentC]

on demand auto ignition

There's a Bosch one that uses the energy of the water pressure to spin a gizmo which lights the burner, so there's no power to the unit at all, just gas.

When I was a kiddie, our hotwater came from a little cylinder in the laundry (or it could've been the bathroom, I was only 5). The heat came from burning briquettes which the old man would buy from the local co-op.

[Driver]

When I was a kiddie, our hotwater came from a little cylinder in the laundry (or it could've been the bathroom, I was only 5).

If you 'ad a laundry an' a bathroom, you were LUCKY!

Me brother an' me, we 'ad to stand in barefeet on icy cobbles in t'backyard while mother stood in scullery doorway and threw dirty dishwatter ower us. That got us an' us clothes clean at t'same time..... Lad..... Aye, times was tough.

[silentC]

Oh, when I say "laundry" I mean a bucket with 'ole in bottom in middle of yard. Doubled as class room for all 500 children who lived in 'ouse next door. Our Mum 'ad to teach 'em all times tables before she could wash our clothes in dirty water from village puddle. Aye, but that were luxury compared to our bathroom...

[Ianab]

And you tell that to the young people of today.. they wont belive ya

[Driver]

Aye, an' on a good day,t'dirty dishwatter might 'ave a bit o' carrot or spud in it so we got summat to eat that day as well as a wash.

Aye, times was tough but we were all t'better forrit tha knows!

[durwood]

saw this on A current afffair last week.

http://www.neco.com.au/product.asp?p...cID=81&c=18442

May be an answer, though it looks like you don't get any water until its hot ??????