Health issues with recirculating hot water?

[Leee]

Hi. I had the same issue of having to wait too long for hot water at the shower on my boat. I discovered that the hot water line goes to every other hot tap before getting to the shower so I changed the routing of the hot water lines to feed the shower first. Problem is now solved. Try that if you can access your waterlines. I have a circulating pump on a timer for hot water in my house (on in the mornings in time for a shave) and it returns to the hot water tank. A 12V circ pump would do the same on a boat but put it on a switch so it is in use only when needed. I doubt your hot water lines are insulated and even if they are, there is a fair amount of heat loss through them which is wasteful aboard. Cheers, Leigh

[Fang]

You should not encounter any problems you wouldn’t encounter otherwise.

Fang
MNS, Epidemiology and Community Health

[Lepke]

My water system has 3 lines. Cold, hot and a return line to the hot water tank. I have a circulation pump that starts and controlled by a time delay relay. It pulls hot water from the tank and returns it to the cold side of the tank. When you want water, press the button, the pump comes on and you have hot water available in a few seconds. Both the hot and return lines are insulated and the water heater is enclosed in 2" styrofoam.

[Cheechako]

I see no issue with it. It's all from the same source anyway. The cool water you are recirculating is just sitting in a water line since last hot water use.

[RaymondR]

I use the cold bit that comes out first to give the toilet a bit of a wash down. Seems to alleviate the wasting water mental concern quiet well.

[noelex 77]

We have a seperate water tank for the shower. The water is mixed to the desired temperature and this includes the water in the pipes and shower rose. The latter is just pumped back into the tank until the temperature is ideal.

The above ensures the shower water is the perfect temperature from start to finish without any fiddling with taps or wasting water.

This provides a nicer shower as well as no wasted water or a cold start. The seperate tank means water can be heated in different ways. Also, if fresh water is in short supply, recycled water (such as used water from hot water bottles) can be added to the shower mix rather than discarded.