I have a new home that has a tankless hot water heater
by
Kmh8340504
+5
we really like this concept and the endless hot water is great. The problem is the sink faucet is the furthest away and it takes forever to get the hot water to it. I have considered putting in a small point of service water heater but then you loose your storage space under the sink. I was also told of a recirculating gadget you can put on that keeps hot water in the pipes at all times but this seems to defeat the purpose of the heater in that it only comes on when you need hot water. Does anyone have another idea on this.
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Sounds like you have everything you need Km. A water heater should be located near the point of heaviest use. A sink that is very far from that point simply takes a long time to get water there. The recirc system uses a LOT of energy and even worse since the tankless would need to run constantly to supply the hot water. I don't think that system is a choice when using the tankless.
Point of use electric water heaters are rather on the small side and surely you have other storage options for those two towels it will displace. You will also only need to have one pipe running to that faucet so you will save all of that heat that was standing in the long stretch of hot water pipe to the distant faucet.
At my previous place of employment we had small individual heaters under each sink. They didn't take up much room at alll.
We have the same issue but figure the cost of wasted water is still less than heating a tank all the time.
I think the small, point of use heater is a good idea. I'm going to do that for the new soaker tub I'm putting in my master bathroom. In the rest of the house, I don't waste the water that comes out too cold. I catch it in a bucket and use it to water houseplants and flower pots outside.
We have the same problem with our tankless water heater, & a plumber friend told us the solution was just to turn the faucet in that bath on Hot with a very small stream until the water dones heat up. I know this sounds a little silly, but you are not demanding a full stream through your pipes, & although it still takes approximately the same time for hot water to reach your faucet, it is really at its hottest once the hot water arrives at that point & you have not wasted much water at all. Once the water becomes hot coming out you can turn on full stream if you wish & will find that you will probably have to dial back the heat of water temperature at that point. It really has helped us.
That is a problem with tankless hot water heaters. The furthest faucet takes a long time to get hot water. There are recirculating pumps that can be installed under the sink.
https://www.homedepot.com/s/tankless%20hot%20water%20recirculating%20pump?NCNI-5