Water, water everywhere, but not a drop that's hot. . . Is that a motto in your household? Robbed by your dishwasher, clothes washer, kitchen sink, and obsessively clean teenagers, you may be forced to stand au naturel in the shower for what seems like an eternity before that "ahhh" of warm water can flow over you. In the meantime, it's so easy to point fingers - at the builder for installing a too-small hot water heater standard in their homes, at yourself for not ordering a mammoth water heater when you bought the home new, or, worse yet, at your teenagers just for being teenagers! Did you know that about 2 -3 gallons of water runs down the drain and is wasted while you wait? In an average household that takes up to four showers a day, that can add up to thousands of gallons a year.

Now it seems there may be a solution called the "Hot Water Recirculation Pump" (HWR). This is a system that attaches to your hot water pipe and constantly circulates hot water through the pipes from the heater to the furthest fixture and then back to the heater, making warm water immediately available upon turning the tap. An optional timer allows owners to pre-program peak use times, such as early morning, reducing total energy use by the pump.

Simple solution to an old problem? As ingenious as American ingenuity can be, leave it to the Europeans to have come up with solutions like this years ago. Companies like Grundfos Pumps Corporation have been around since 1945. The company's name translates into "ground spring" in its native Denmark. Having expanded from a modest die-casting and machine factory to the creation of a group of companies represented by 51 entities in 36 different countries, Grundfos offers recirculating hot water pumps to the world, and now works with new home builders to install these handy devices during construction.

Grundfos claims HWR systems can be installed in the average new home for under $1,000, including parts and installation. When you figure that in California, the average household consumes nearly 175,000 gallons of water per year at the average annual cost of $315, just think of how much water could be saved over time using this technology alone. Not to mention those endless vigils in the shower waiting for hot water to emerge from the shower head. In total, hot water recirculation could save the state of California nearly 3 billion gallons of water per year and save homeowners more than $5 million in annual water charges.

HWR uses a 2-pole motor for low energy consumption. Energy costs will vary according to local rates. The HWR pump uses between 55 watts per hour on small models and up to 85 watts or larger ones. The average cost to operate the pump will be less than $20 annually, according to Grundfos. The system conserves water by providing hot water immediately, but also indirectly benefits communities when widely used because of the reduced wear and tear on municipal wastewater treatment facilities. It can be used with both gas or electric water heaters, making to convenient to builders to include them in their new homes or option the pumps at their design center locations.

The system can be installed in any home or building, however, the installation is a bit different (and more costly) in retrofit versus new construction. The pumps are made of stainless steel for corrosion resistance and the motors have a life span of about ten years. No service is required, and Grundfos will replace failed pumps if within the warranty period. They are rated or approved by several agencies worldwide, with UL, CSA, cUL and CE among the most common approvals.

With water conservation issues increasing in importance and a significant population growth estimated over the next 20 years, water is becoming a precious resource. At some point, it may be likely that systems such as HWR will be installed in every new home as standard. For more information, log on to www.HotWaterRecirc.com. And, start thinking about how you can look back on those days of waiting for hot water to arrive in your cold shower as a distant memory.

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Published: September 22, 1999

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A veteran of the real estate and homebuilding industries since 1986, Dena Kouremetis first joined Realty Times as a new homes writer in 1998. Since then, she has authored four books, written consumer columns on new homes issues for websites and newspapers all across the country, contributed to builder trade magazines, appeared as a guest expert on several radio shows and even created a ten-chapter podcast for LendingTree.com’s homebuilder website, iNest.com, now available on iTunes, entitled Uncharted Waters; Navigating the Purchase of a New Production Home. Kouremetis recently joined her local Folsom, CA Coldwell Banker office as a broker associate while continuing to write for the real estate industry. For the past three years, she has been training real estate agents for both the resale and new homes industries, putting her experience, research expertise and gift of expression to work to help others entering the business.