extra information

In our busy lives with a 6 year old interrupting us every time we try to have a conversation, some of the details get lost. Long ago, when it was just the two of us, we each had a more clear understanding of the knowledge the other held, a sort of table of contents if you will. These days, it takes the family blog to reveal some of the smaller bits of knowledge.

Jonathan just told me about something called a water recirculator. I've done just a bit of reading on them this morning and they're quite interesting.

It goes like this: You buy this gadget for somewhere around $500 and install it. It is connected to both your cold water pipes and your hot. When you ask your shower to deliver hot water, the gadget forces all of the cold water sitting in the hot water pipe into the cold water pipe and back to the water heater. It then sends the very warm water straight from the bottom of the water heater into your shower. No slowly warming water slipping down the drain. Is there a cost savings? Well, the jury is out. I'll run the numbers another day.

We hope to install a tankless water heater in the next year or two so the research is pending.