Hot Water Heater Advise

[fwman]

I’m a homeowner and had a plumber give me an estimate on adding a recirculation pump to my HW heater. Because my HW heater is the furthest point from the master bath, it can take 2+ minutes to get hot. My current HW heater is 11+ years old – Bradford White 50 gals. I have 2 full baths in the house.

Because of the age of the HW heater, the plumber suggested replacing it with the Rinnai RSP160i tankless heater that has a recirculation pump built in (The estimate was $6900). He gave me two options for the recirculation method. 1. Install a T sensor valve under the sink in the master bath and return from the existing cold-water line. 2. Run a new dedicated return line (This would increase the cost by $1200).

My questions:

• Do you think replacing the heater is the best course of action because my current 50-gal heater is fine. I hear you can get up to 15 years with a Bradford White.
• If I do replace the heater is spending the additional $1200 a good idea. I do hear that using the cold-water line as the return has its own issues – the cold water is no longer very cold.

Thanks!

 

[havasu]

If your water heater is fine, you could add a Watts/Grundfos inline pump kit, which includes a "T sensor" valve, for ~$220 from Home Depot. This is what I use myself.

You are correct, it will push a bit of tepid water into your cold water line for a minute, but it is certainly not hot water.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Watts-H...-System-with-Built-In-Timer-0955800/100426993

 

[breplum]

I have taken out quite a few Grundfos bridges that customers hate...but havasu says is ok.
The dedicated return line is absolutely the wonderful choice whether on a new tank or tankless.
Get a few other bids for tankless installation. Only choose a tankless with built-in pump. My only brand is Navien, which also has a built in mini-tank so there is never sandwiching of hot/cold/hot, but Nortiz also makes an excellent product with the pump.
One great option if you do go dedicated return line is pushbutton activation for the pump at the far end.

 

[havasu]

My old house had a Navien TWH with a dedicated return line, and it was awesome. Problem was it cost me $10k to implement it. This house is not that old, and wasn't worth a full repipe, so I cheated out with the Grundfos recirculation system.

 

[GReynolds929]

If you don't run out of hot water with the current tank and don't forsee a need for endless hot water, you can get a new 50 gallon tank and add the return line and pump for less than a tankless install.