Plumbing musings

[Trooperman]

As will be common with many villages and towns, we receive, either via facebook or directly posted flyers, exhortations from the town hall to save water. Hopefully the recent rains will have ameliorated that situation somewhat, but i suspect it will take some time for all that rain to permeate down to the aquifers.

I was therefore giving some thought to inadvertent water wastage. In my own house, with the storage tank and the heater on an upper level, it takes "forever" to get hot water into the downstairs kitchen sink, all of which is ordinarily wasted down the plughole! Wanting to "do our bit", we took to draining off the, otherwise wasted, water into a bucket until it ran hot. That unwanted water was then thrown into the pool. But it's a faff!

I know little about plumbing, but surely there must be some way of getting that hot water to where it's needed more quickly?.....or would a wider pipe (for example) merely generate the same amount of wasted water....but do it faster?

Any ideas? If you multiply this problem of mine by the number of households in Spain, we could have a solution....or do I carry on dreaming?

[Cádiz]

As will be common with many villages and towns, we receive, either via facebook or directly posted flyers, exhortations from the town hall to save water. Hopefully the recent rains will have ameliorated that situation somewhat, but i suspect it will take some time for all that rain to permeate down to the aquifers.

I was therefore giving some thought to inadvertent water wastage. In my own house, with the storage tank and the heater on an upper level, it takes "forever" to get hot water into the downstairs kitchen sink, all of which is ordinarily wasted down the plughole! Wanting to "do our bit", we took to draining off the, otherwise wasted, water into a bucket until it ran hot. That unwanted water was then thrown into the pool. But it's a faff!

I know little about plumbing, but surely there must be some way of getting that hot water to where it's needed more quickly?.....or would a wider pipe (for example) merely generate the same amount of wasted water....but do it faster?

Any ideas? If you multiply this problem of mine by the number of households in Spain, we could have a solution....or do I carry on dreaming?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=under+basi ... p0ia0w3t_e

[gerryh]

I also went for instantaneous water heaters.
On each for the shower, bathroom sink and kitchen sink.
Cheers
Gerry

[Trooperman]

You know....I never thought of that!.....a bit like one of those Quooker taps you see advertised.

My hot water comes from a tank on the roof attached to a solar panel and has an immersion heater for when the sun doesn't shine. So now my dilema will be whether I use an under-sink heater and downplay my "green" credentials! Oh! what fun!

Thanks guys!

[Wicksey]

We have the same problem throughout our very small house. It takes half a bucket to get the shower hot and yet the water tank is just behind the wall. The water in the bucket goes out onto the garden plants. We never use hot water from the tap in the kitchen as it takes a whole basin to come through. We use a dishwasher and on washing up nights (it takes 3 days to fully fill) then we boil a kettle on the gas hob to do any odd bits that don't go in. Friends have the little electric water heaters for their bathroom sinks which work well, but as you say, means that you are not using your solar water.

[peteroldracer]

"https://www.amazon.co.uk/s"
Have you tried the same search on amazon.es? I have never seen any of these units in Spain, as most houses have something like 5.75kW supply, so a 3kw heater would be tripping the supply any time someone was showering and another clicked the electric kettle on!

[Trooperman]

Yes. I thought of that. In my kitchen, an under-sink 3Kw unit would be on the same circuit as the oven/microwave........trips to the garage and circuit breakers to cancel the trips!

[Cádiz]

Yes. I thought of that. In my kitchen, an under-sink 3Kw unit would be on the same circuit as the oven/microwave........trips to the garage and circuit breakers to cancel the trips!

The circuit will not be a problem as long as you have the overall potencia...

[gerryh]

Yes. I thought of that. In my kitchen, an under-sink 3Kw unit would be on the same circuit as the oven/microwave........trips to the garage and circuit breakers to cancel the trips!

You might be disappointed with a 3Kw unit.
You will only get a slow flow rate of hot water.
Increasing the flow rate reduces the temperature of the water.
I have a 5.5 Kw unit and it is only just sufficient.
Cheers
Gerry

[Wicksey]

No chance of that as a solution for us then as we only have potencia of 4.4Kw. I didn't realise they were so high powered (my friends have a jacuzzi too and I think that needs more kws, so I guess they have much higher potencia). It's not worth it for us, so we'll keep boiling the kettle on the gas cooker when we need it in the kitchen.

[Trooperman]

So. I get all this. Thanks everyone for the sensible inputs.

It seems, to me, that wasting the water (this morning I ran off 8 litres of cold water into a bucket before washing up the breakfast things) is a lot cheaper than paying for more potencia (I have 5.75Kw), thus helping to perpetuate the water wastage/shortage.

Here are the Amazon Spanish offerings: https://tinyurl.com/2p9aw26m

[Enrique]

Hi Trooperman,

A 20 ltr 1.5Kw electric water heater close to the sink on a timer (Hot water feed from gas water heater disconnected).......works ok for us and we're on 3.3Kw potencia.

[Cádiz]

So. I get all this. Thanks everyone for the sensible inputs.

It seems, to me, that wasting the water (this morning I ran off 8 litres of cold water into a bucket before washing up the breakfast things) is a lot cheaper than paying for more potencia (I have 5.75Kw), thus helping to perpetuate the water wastage/shortage.

Here are the Amazon Spanish offerings: https://tinyurl.com/2p9aw26m

That ATC one is just 2kw and would be about the same as a wash machine... not big kw draw ... you could put on a timer or... there is a switch available on Amazon press once 15 mins.. 2 times 30 mins.. 3 times an Hour.. it shuts off itself... i have one and very handy...

[Wicksey]

Hi Trooperman,

A 20 ltr 1.5Kw electric water heater close to the sink on a timer (Hot water feed from gas water heater disconnected).......works ok for us and we're on 3.3Kw potencia.

Actually that's what we did at another house when we added an ensuite. We put in a small electric water heater (on a timer) so it was instant coming through, rather than try to connect into the gas water heater at the other side of the house. Just need somewhere to put it in in the kitchen if you wanted to go that way. 8L is a lot to run off each time.