I’m planning to add a guest bathroom on the second floor. A few friends have mentioned I should add a separate water heater for the bathroom because of the distance hot water will have to travel from the basement. As it looks now the supply lines will be running about 60/65 ft., no outside wall cavities, and I plan to use pipe insulation wrap on 3/4″ pipe.
Because of the “occasional” use of the bathroom I have also thought about one of the “on demand” water heating units, but I would rather not spend the money if it is really not needed.
Should I open up the wallet a little wider, and put in a second water heater for the new guest bath?
Jr
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put in a small undercounter on demand water heater... a booster if you will...
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WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Use 1/2" pipe. Takes a lot less water to fill and heat up a 1/2" pipe. My bathroom is about 75 feet from the hot water heater. Not a problem. A short wait for the hot water first thing in the morning is all.
Yes, I'd use 1/2" pipe for that, too.
The downside is that bathroom will be sensitive to multiple uses: Less flow and changing temps in the shower if someone flushes in that same bathroom.
The time for hot water to get there will be much less, 44% of much as with 3/4". And it is cheaper and easier to run the 1/2".
Normal practice is 3/4" to each room and then 1/2" to each fixture. But at that distance, for occasional use, go 1/2" the whole way. Problem solved.David Thomas Overlooking Cook Inlet in Kenai, Alaska
When you run the line "to" the bath, run a second line "from" the bath to create a recirc loop. Put a little recirc pump on the line with a programmable timer that you can turn on and off when you have company. This will allow quick delivery of water to the bath when you want it, without wasting energy when there are no guests in town.
The timers are like the little light timers and/or sprinkler timers with the pins that you click in and out to set the times for the timer to turn on and off. We used them on all our houses on Las Vegas- set them to come on 15 minutes before the morning showers, off when everyone left the house, and on again for the few hours at night when someone may need a shower.
Bob
The simplest option, if you have the space, is to add a roughly 10 gallon electric unit in series with the hot water line. (Yes, I guess this does make it a "hot water heater". ;) ) The small heater keeps a small amount of water ready "on demand", and when more is needed it can come from the main heater.
You can rig a switch/disconnect to the small unit to turn it off when the area is unoccupied.
Another option is to have the main water heater run at about 160 degrees, and then use home-run 3/8" pipe for the hot water feeds. At the point of use, use a tempering valve to reduce the temp to reasonable levels.
There are also "on demand" recirculating systems, where a pump is placed, eg, under the vanity in the remote bathroom, and when hot water is needed (or on a timer, in the morning) the pump is run first until hot arrives. It pumps the not-quite-hot water back into the cold water line, so no water is wasted.
A mini heater is a great idea.
I put a 5 gal. electric wh under my inlaws kitchen sink. It is a 120v plug in model, but would be ideal for his application if he used a switched recptical. Turn it on when the guest arrive and they have instant hot water. The little water heater is fed from the larger one in the basement, so by the time the first few gallons of hot water are used the large heater has become the supply for all additional use.
Dave
In remodeling our own upstairs bath our plumber installed a gravity loop. Essentialy just teed into the hot and looped it back to the tank in the basement, with a one way check valve by the tank. Works like a charm and no motors to worry about, or timers, or more connections, or tanks upstairs. We get hot water in seconds. Only downside is heat loss from the gravity recirc system, but if you can insulate the home runs well that will be minimal.
Let's not confuse the issue with facts!
Thanks everybody for the good ideas, i'm going to look into the gravity loop idea.
JR