Plumbing timers.

[Packard]

My TV has a built-in timer.  If I don’t change the channel or adjust the volume, after 4 hours it will shut the TV off unless I intervene.

My water kettle (electric) turns itself off about 30 seconds after it reached boiling temperature.

The auxiliary heater in my bathroom has a timer switch that ranges from 5 minutes to 60 minutes.

This morning I turned on the hot tap in the bathroom.  It takes 3 or 4 minutes for the hot water to make it to the bathroom.  The phone rang and I answered it. Distracted, I forgot about the faucet being open.

No damage done, but I wasted about 20 minutes of water and fuel to heat it.

A timer on the faucet would have mitigated that.  I’ve never seen one.  Is it made?  Would it work?

I know that there are switches that turn off water after it has begun to flood.  I have never heard of one that works on a timer basis.

 

[usernumber1]

are you talking about the water main into the house or faucet alone

for faucets they have the on demand sensors i'm sure you know about those they are everywhere in public places

there are valve controllers that integrate into your smarthome, but that's fairly involved

 

[Tom the Remodeler]

There are a variety of plumbing shut-offs that will terminate the supply of water if certain criteria are met. Many insurance companies now require them, particularly on high $$$ homes where a plumbing leak could be an enormous loss/claim.

 

[Packard]

I would want a faucet-only shut-off with a preset time of my choice. So, if I have a default preset of 5 minutes, the faucet would pulsate making me aware that I am approaching the shutdown time.  I could the tap a reset button to allow another 5 minutes. Or, I could choose to skip the shutoff feature entirely.

 

[squall_line]

You'd be better off plumbing in a hot water circulation loop and a pump with a pre-set.  Then you're only "wasting" the electricity for the pump and not any water, hot or otherwise.

You can set the pump on a timer to be ready for a shower or other bathroom need at the same time every day if you'd like, or just start it up when you enter the room to use the commode so that you have hot water ready to go when you're done.

 

[twistsol1]

You could also add an under sink electric water heater if it isn't possible to install a loop and pump. That way hot water is seconds away, not minutes.

 

[usernumber1]

yes maybe a recirc loop is what you should get before running faucets on a timer.

they can be activated by a button press when you enter, timer schedule, proximity sensor, or your tank can use its prediction algorithm 
there's also the wax valve where it always keeps the hot water side warm .

i'm sure i'm forgetting other ways, but the faucet on a timer is not a good method

 

[PaulMarcel]

My bathroom sink tap takes a while to get hot, but the bathtub takes at most 10 seconds. I usually turn on the tub until it's hot then the sink water is immediately hot. I also do this to prime the hot in the shower as the water flow in the shower is much less than the tub on wide open.

 

[Packard]

My house does not have a water heater.  I’ve been told that for one person, it does not pay to install one. I’ve lived with this for 27 years.  I guess I will have to pay more attention to the open faucets in the future.

 

[squall_line]

My house does not have a water heater.  I’ve been told that for one person, it does not pay to install one. I’ve lived with this for 27 years.  I guess I will have to pay more attention to the open faucets in the future.

How do you get hot water without a heater?

I lived on my own for over 15 years and had a water heater the entire time.  I don't know how I would have taken showers or washed dishes without it.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

My house does not have a water heater.  I’ve been told that for one person, it does not pay to install one. I’ve lived with this for 27 years.  I guess I will have to pay more attention to the open faucets in the future.

How do you get hot water without a heater?

I lived on my own for over 15 years and had a water heater the entire time.  I don't know how I would have taken showers or washed dishes without it.

This is why "showers" are a relatively modern thing, with pressurized indoor plumbing. For the decades before, it was a bath, using well water. Some was straight from the well, part of it was heated on whatever source you had, whether that was a fireplace, wood stove, etc. In most cases, the entire family shared that water, since it was quite a chore to fill/heat the thing.
Modern conveniences are exactly that, modern. You wuld have done what was needed with the resources available.

 

[squall_line]

My house does not have a water heater.  I’ve been told that for one person, it does not pay to install one. I’ve lived with this for 27 years.  I guess I will have to pay more attention to the open faucets in the future.

How do you get hot water without a heater?

I lived on my own for over 15 years and had a water heater the entire time.  I don't know how I would have taken showers or washed dishes without it.

This is why "showers" are a relatively modern thing, with pressurized indoor plumbing. For the decades before, it was a bath, using well water. Some was straight from the well, part of it was heated on whatever source you had, whether that was a fireplace, wood stove, etc. In most cases, the entire family shared that water, since it was quite a chore to fill/heat the thing.
Modern conveniences are exactly that, modern. You wuld have done what was needed with the resources available.

Well, yes, I would be a much different person had I lived 100 years ago.  I'd probably have callouses on my hands, for one thing.

I didn't consider that there were people who would be posting on a power tool forum on the internet who were still in an old enough house that "hot water" meant "boil water and add it to the tub".

To that end, if the hot water is coming from a sunken pipe to a geothermal heating source or from pipes that coil around a wood burning stove, I would still consider those a form of water heater, just tankless (albeit not what would be currently referred to as a "tankless heater")

 

[usernumber1]

This morning I turned on the hot tap in the bathroom.  It takes 3 or 4 minutes for the hot water to make it to the bathroom.

My house does not have a water heater.

...got some questions about this

 

[cdconey]

A timer on the faucet would have mitigated that.  I’ve never seen one.  Is it made?  Would it work?

Our kitchen sink faucet has a 3 minute timer for the touch sensor, it will shut off the water after 3 minutes if you do not turn it off by touch again within 3 minutes. 

 

[Packard]

A timer on the faucet would have mitigated that.  I’ve never seen one.  Is it made?  Would it work?

Who is the manufacturer? Model?

Our kitchen sink faucet has a 3 minute timer for the touch sensor, it will shut off the water after 3 minutes if you do not turn it off by touch again within 3 minutes.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Well, yes, I would be a much different person had I lived 100 years ago.  I'd probably have callouses on my hands, for one thing.

I didn't consider that there were people who would be posting on a power tool forum on the internet who were still in an old enough house that "hot water" meant "boil water and add it to the tub".

Agreed, I wouldn't either.  [blink]

Though my own house would be old enough, if it would have been built out in the country somewhere.
Mine was built in 1929, but in a large city, especially for the time (but even now). It did originally have only 1 bathroom, which was upstairs. That wouldn't be so great for hauling water in buckets  [unsure]
It did however have a coal-fired furnace until the late 40s.
Now that I think about it, I don't know how the water was heated? This house didn't have gas until after WW2.
In contrast, my former mother-in-law grew up in rural West Virginia, in the 1930s. They did exactly as described, spring water from down the hill, and a wood stove.

 

[Packard]

My house does not have a water heater.  I’ve been told that for one person, it does not pay to install one. I’ve lived with this for 27 years.  I guess I will have to pay more attention to the open faucets in the future.

The hot water comes directly from the furnace.  I do have to be careful because the water potentially could come out at 180 - 190 degrees.  But every plumber I have spoken to says for one adult, this is a more efficient setup.

At any rate, it is the same setup that has been in this house from the beginning in 1953.

How do you get hot water without a heater?

I lived on my own for over 15 years and had a water heater the entire time.  I don't know how I would have taken showers or washed dishes without it.

 

[cdconey]

A timer on the faucet would have mitigated that.  I’ve never seen one.  Is it made?  Would it work?

Who is the manufacturer? Model?

Our kitchen sink faucet has a 3 minute timer for the touch sensor, it will shut off the water after 3 minutes if you do not turn it off by touch again within 3 minutes.

Mfg is Flow, Model UB7000BN 

 

[Cheese]

The hot water comes directly from the furnace.  I do have to be careful because the water potentially could come out at 180 - 190 degrees. 

How do you get hot water in the summer?

 

[rmwarren]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member] our old house circa 1948 had an oil fired boiler that provided hot water, it was awesome. Closed loop for heat and separate line for domestic water. IIRC there was no storage tank, basically on demand hot water.

RMW