Moving Water Heater in Garage

[bromley]

I recently mover my water heater across the garage,approximately 50 feet. Now it takes a lot longer to get hot water through the house especially 2nd floor. If I go with a tankless system would that solve my problem? Also I don't have gas in the house. It would have to be an electric system. Any info would be a great help. Thank You

 

[LS6 Tommy]

50' shouldn't make that much difference in delivery time. I'm not sure what other issues may be causing the delay.

Tommy

 

[pattenp]

If the tankless is placed close to the points of use, then yes. If placed where the current tank is, no.

 

[sberry]

50 ft would make a huge difference especially with 3/4 pipe and low flow fixtures. Put another small electric in series near point of use, this will still be energy greedy for every hand wash. Changing to a smaller hot pipe would help some, only place its a bit of a bottleneck is tub filling.

 

[bamawildcat]

Tankless won't help in that situation. Recirculating pumps is what you should be looking at.

 

[Showkey]

50’ makes a huge difference in delivery time.........as others confirmed.

Tankless will at the same location will make the delay in hot water 10 times worse.

Recent discussion on recirculation hot water systems ( there are others)

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=437155

 

[bromley]

Thanks guys for the info.

 

[66Caprice]

Did you insulate those pipes when you installed them? If not then the building is sucking up all of that heat from the pipes.

 

[GMCGarage]

50' is about 1.2 gallons in the pipe. Avg faucet is about 2.2 gallons per min. You are wasting 30 seconds of water waiting for hot water.

 

[Showkey]

50' is about 1.2 gallons in the pipe. Avg faucet is about 2.2 gallons per min. You are wasting 30 seconds of water waiting for hot water.

cuz Luke warm might not enough Plus another 30-120 seconds to actually get HOT water ...........

 

[glentre]

Run a separate pipe teed off of the heater hot water outlet and tee it into the hot water riser where the heater was originally located. Then, insulate both lines. With no circulating pump, there will be a thermo siphon action that will keep both lines hot at all times and give you hot water where the heater used to be located, giving you the same performance as you had prior to moving the heater.

Glen

 

[fourjeepin]

I looked at electric tankless water heating and it requires lots and lots of power. I would bet more than is available without upgrading the electrical service.

 

[hotrod1968]

Recirculating pump... my house is 4500 square feet with water heater in garage... hot water at all facets on demand..

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[The Cobbler]

50' would make a huge difference...
a circ pump, a gravity feed return line, there's also pumps that return the hopt water thru the cold line until it senses warm/hot water.

 

[glentre]

For those suggesting circulating pumps, how would a pump be installed when the op only has one hot line coming from the heater? Not being critical, just curious. If you install a second parallel line, it will thermo siphon and both pipes will be hot without needing a pump.

Glen

 

[BigGarage]

I recently moved my water heater across the garage,approximately 50 feet. Now it takes a lot longer to get hot water through the house especially 2nd floor. If I go with a tankless system would that solve my problem? Also I don't have gas in the house. It would have to be an electric system. Any info would be a great help. Thank You

In 2015 I remodeled my 2nd floor 1/2 bath and went with a tankless heater because I figured by the time hot water got up there I'd be done washing my hands. I bought a Rheem and I didn't study enough about it. It required a 240 volt supply so I had to run a new line up there from the main panel but other than that and the fact that I had never soldered a copper joint before it came together well. It cost $185.50 with tax. The box says max flow is 3 gals. per minute if needed. I don't know as I've never checked.

It's mounted in a cubbyhole behind the bathroom and so is only a couple of feet from the sink. It gets warm in 4-5 seconds and reaches the max temp I have it set at in 9-10 seconds. I'd recommend it to anyone who is looking for a tankless unit.

Dennis

 

[LS6 Tommy]

For those suggesting circulating pumps, how would a pump be installed when the op only has one hot line coming from the heater? Not being critical, just curious. If you install a second parallel line, it will thermo siphon and both pipes will be hot without needing a pump.

Glen

There are systems on the market that have a regulating valve that uses the cold water line as a return on a call for hot water. No need to run additional return lines.


http://www.tacocomfort.com/products/systems/instant_hot_water/hotlink/index.html


Tommy

 

[glentre]

LS6 Tommy,

Thanks for the input on the Taco recirculating system. I did not know about this option. Did some reading on it and it's an interesting concept but any one installing it would be wise to evaluate performance issues plus initial and operating costs vs more simplified solutions.

Glen