Eli5: How does a hotel always have hot water for every occupant?
In: 1975
The key to having hot water in a hotel is recirculating hot water. In your house, when you turn off the tap the water stops moving, and starts to cool off. Later, to get hot water, you have to run the tap to flush out the cold water in the pipe and get to the hot water.
This is very inefficient, it wastes water and the energy that went into making it hot.
Recirculating hot water uses a small pipe to allow the water in the hot pipes ot continue moving when all the taps are off. A tiny, very energy efficient pump, slowly moves the water back to the hot water heater’s tank. That way the water in the hot pipe is always hot, and when you turn the tap the water is hot right away.
I had this feature in several houses, and it’s super convenient.
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