Tired of waiting for hot water? Danny shows three methods for easing the problem. Including a hot water recirculation pump, proper water heater maintenance, and a tankless water heater, these solutions will have your water running hot in no time.
Please Leave a Comment
You can follow comments to this article by subscribing to the RSS news feed with your favorite feed reader.
Comments submitted may be edited for clarity and used on Homefront, Today’s Homeowner®, or posted in articles on dannylipford.com at our discretion. In addition, you may submit questions at our contact page or by calling (800) 946-4420.
November 3rd, 2007 at 1:50 am
I need to replace my old 40 gallon hot water heater. however, my home is an older house built in 1963. Can I replace the 40 gallon gas hot water tank with a tankless hot water heater and do you think it will be more expensive because of the age of my house?
Ben Erickson Says:November 7th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
Debra,
The age of your house shouldn’t matter if you have a large enough gas line running to the water heater. Tankless heaters can be expensive to install since they require special venting and a large capacity gas line, so be sure you know the total cost before purchasing one. You can find more information on water heaters, including tankless, in our article Choosing a Hot Water Heater.
January 7th, 2008 at 1:25 am
yes i was watching your show about water heaters. when my heater was put in i asked them about draining it. they told me since it is new i would not have to do that. plus they said most of the time when you do that the valve will start linking and will have trouble getting it to stop. so i do not know what to do. do it or not do it. cause if i do it and the valve links then i am going to have to change the valve. it is about four years old now and i am still getting nice hot water but watching your show got me thinking about draining my heater. so what is your comment on this. thanks dan
Danny Lipford Says:January 8th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Hi Dan,
It is still a good idea to drain the water heater to make it work better and last longer. If it is only 4 years old, you shouldn’t have any problem with the valve.
Danny
January 13th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
We saw your program regarding water heater maintenance. However we didn’t catch the part of emptying water into a bucket periodically. How often should this be done?? We annually drain the water heater, but thought we heard you mentioned emptying a bucketfull periodically. Could you tell me how often this should be done.
Thank you, Linda Dean
January 19th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Since the tankless water heater is on an outside wall how do you keep the cold water supply line from freezing up during the winter?
March 14th, 2008 at 10:16 am
I would like info on the circulating pump and valve mounted under the lavatory furtherest from the water heater. Thanks
March 30th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
I have the problem in the shower on one end of the house and the kitchen sink on the other end of the house, of taking up to a full minute to get hot water. I have a finished ceiling in the basement.If I install a heat pump do I have to have a return line. Thanks Mark
March 30th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
I also have low water presure. to where if I turn one faucet on, the next faucet I turn on the water comes out noticeably slower. I have a 2″ well with a 1/2 hpr motor. presure tank is 10 gallon. Can I increase my water presure by getting a bigger motor or presure tank? Thanks Mark
April 7th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
I installed a recirculating pump with timer from home depot. It is a watts pump.This is a ranch home with water heater at one end of house & master @ other end. I installed a line at master bath sink and ran line back to check valve then into pump & into bottom of water heater. pump seems to be operating , but the return line never gets warm or hot no matter how long i run water. check valve & pump arrows are in diretion to bottom of water heater. I have installed many this way over the years. don,t know what to do . help if you can.