COST: about $200
This looks like a pretty simple design.
“We have a large family so our gas bill was 80 therms or more per month. We now have it down to 21 therms give or take a few. It saves about 60 bucks a month. I have close to $150.00 in pipe and fittings.”
” The temp sensors I have on the in and out are used from an old boiler and, unfortunatly are very inaccurate. I know the cold water coming in is around 55 to 60 degrees f. The slower the pump runs the hotter the water comes back. On a hot day if I turn off the pump for 10 minutes the water comes back so hot you can barely touch the pipe. I believe I am getting about 10 degrees hotter out the other side. By the end of the day ( a hot one) I have 40 gal of water that is about 100 degree’s. So we went from 60 to app 100 degrees through the cource of the day. The tank happens to be on the other end of the house app. 40 ft of pipe so I have some pretty good losses due to convection and the pipe is not insulated yet. I am sure there is room for improvment in other areas also. I tried running the pump full time all day and shut it off manually but the snap disc seems to work better. It simply runs itself so I don’t have to do anything at all now.”
