How Does On-Demand Recirculation Work?

Most conventional recirculation pumps run for hours during the day, even at times when nobody is using hot water.  When this happens, energy is lost and your water heater must continue to fire up and reheat unused water, resulting in high gas/electricity use.  On-demand systems such as AutoHot only turn on when there is hot water demand and if hot water isn’t already at the tap.  Anytime there is no hot water demand, such as when you’re at work, on vacation, sleeping, or just hanging around the house, the system stays off. Operating in this manner usually results in pump run time of less than 15 minutes per day total, and can achieve upwards of 10,000 gallons of water savings per year at a cost of less than $2.00 in energy to operate the system.

AutoHot works in any plumbing system, whether you have a dedicate return line or just standard plumbing, and works with any tank or tankless water heater.

Building Energy Code Requirements

Central to a high-performing hot water distribution system is an on-demand recirculation pump.  Building energy codes and performance certifications are now requiring that buildings that use hot water recirculation pumps, must also have demand controls to help regulate the system run time for reduced energy losses.  Using and specifying the AutoHot system will help your building meet these code requirements and ensure efficient hot water delivery in any application.  Look for these requirements in such new building standards such as: 2016 California Title 24, 2015 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), The Department of Energy Zero Energy Ready Home (ZERH) program, LEED for Homes v4  and others.