Watts Heat H2O Hot Water Recirculation System

I just installed this after buying in September 2025. It took me about an hour to get it fully installed. It runs silent and works very well. I was able to get hot water at most area's of my home in under 5-seconds. Considering getting an additional "sensor" valve to speed up one other section. I was worried about cost of electricity overtime but I used an AI agent and it resolved the math for me. Average cost was $1 to $3 monthly in eletricity based on response. I thought it would be significantly more to run continuously. One note, instructions mention to use pipe dope on the hose connection going to house from pump (but not tank to pump). I think thats easy to overlook. I had to go back and redo it as I initially overlooked.

After years of waiting for water to reach the far areas of my house, I had finally had enough. This pump exceeded my expectations and works flawlessly. It sat on my counter for a few weeks until I finally decided to install it. Installation time was less than 30 min. It took me longer to get the junk out from beneath the far sink than it did to install. The instructions are straight forward and easy to understand. I did the under the sink valve first. They supply you with all the right hoses and connections. I did have to get long hoses, but that is not the fault of the mfg. My supply pipes are further apart. I bought longer hoses and everything was golden. Installing the pump was beyond easy. Yes I did have to buy the correct CPVC fittings with 3/4" threads to connect to the pump. Less than a dollar at the local hardware. Off the discharge pump I went with a flexible hose that connected to my system. You will have to buy a few extra pvc fittings if you need to make it work with your water heater system. It took less than 30 min to install in total and I plugged it in. I could tell it was working, but the pump is extremely quiet. We set the mode to timer, because we want it on from early morning to around 11 pm at night then the timer shuts off the pump. You will still have hot water, but just not as fast as when the pump is working. Even if you let it run all the time, it would cost around $20 a year, tops, but the timer is a nice feature. So far I am extremely happy with the product and it has hot water at our furthest sink within 5 seconds. Don't hesitate to buy this product.

I was really impressed with the Watts Heat H2O Hot Water Recirculation System. It’s a great product that does exactly what it claims—delivers hot water almost instantly without wasting time or water. The biggest highlight for me was how easy it was to install. I’m not a plumber by any means, but the instructions were clear and all the parts were included. I had it up and running in about an hour using basic tools. The programmable timer is a great feature. I set it to run during the times we usually need hot water, and it works flawlessly. Our bedroom shower is on the opposite end of the house from the water heater, and we used to wait forever for hot water. Now, the wait time has been cut by more than half—it makes a big difference in our morning routine. The included sensor valve and adapters made the whole process smooth. It’s also quiet when it runs, which was a nice surprise. Plus, the 3-year warranty gave me peace of mind. Overall, this system is a smart investment if you're tired of waiting for hot water. It’s efficient, easy to install, and adds real convenience. Highly recommended!

Pump is great at circulating the water during the hours you set it to. It's nice to wake up to having instant hot water, especially in the winter when it would take literally minutes to get hot water to the master bath, which is at the opposite side of the house that the hot water heater resides. However, there are some quirks that people should know about. Pros: Small unit, affordable, does the job as described. Timer is nice, it's analog with pull out tabs/switches, but easy enough to setup. Cons: 1. Most people won't be able to install this themselves. This should go on the hot water heater, and if you have copper pipes that you'll need to cut, and sweat new pipes onto, most people will need a pro. I used shark fittings, but still had to cut, measure, cut to get it right. If you have flexible hoses on top of your hot water heater, then it would be an easy install for you. Under sink install is very straightforward. 2. If you have sensitive hearing, you may hear humming in your walls/pipes as this is running during the set times. I can hear it when I walk by walls that have pipes in them, and it irritates me. So, I don't run it all night. 3. When it runs, some pipes in walls get a "drip" sound. No idea what is causing it, I'm still chasing it down. 4. This is a very minute con: Since it recirculates the water into the cold water pipes, when you initially open your cold spout you might get luke warm water for a few second. Not really a big deal. Overall happy with it as it functions well.

I can honestly say this is probably the most cost effective way of getting hot water to far places in a home, Our home 12 years old is roughly 3000 sq ft 2 story with 4 full baths with the master being at the most furthest point of the home upstairs roughly 100+ feet away from the hot water tank in the garage between the master bath sinks, jetted tub and shower I would have to wait almost 4 minutes of water running before it got warm then cold. The water lines used throughout the home are PEX non metallic plumbing. The pump and sensor unit are very easy to install on your own with a bit of common sense and took me about 40 minutes to install. I let the pump do it's thing for about 30 minutes went up to the 2nd sink in the master bath, which is the last and furthest in the home only 3 feet further than the 2nd sink, within approx 3 secs the water was warm to the touch followed by hotter water very shortly thereafter. I had my wife verify this later that evening, we would usually waste a bunch of water filling up the jetted tub or turning on the shower waiting on hot water, again within seconds the water was warm then hot! I was very amazed as I was getting prepared to drop a few thousand $$$ to have a Tankless installed just for the upstairs master bath I am very pleased with this system. Now I have seen where some people are concerned about cost to run this etc. first it waste no water so right there whatever the cost should be outweighed in water savings. Second I have seen people mock those about putting this on a smart timer since it already comes with a built in timer, what those doing the mocking are not realizing is that if the power goes out then the built in timer does not keep its correct time once power is restored, Yes I'm sure for many this is probably a very rare thing, but I can tell u you here in Northern CA the power especially in the summer is 50/50 at best! So yes I would highly suggest the use of a smart plug for one of these, I already have dozens of smart plugs/lights & switches in use at my home so I did not need to purchase one but they can be purchased for less than $25 I recommend Tp-link by Kasa! The other nice thing about the smart plug especially if it has the energy monitoring option (Not all do get one with the monitoring) is that you can get a real time look at what the power consumption is daily, weekly and yearly to kind of give you a idea of the Electric use which is not bad. The pump averages right around 22 watts +/- while running the company states is should be less than a nickle a day or so to run 24 hours. I may set up a schedule or Alexa routine but currently I have not having 48 345 watt solar panels and Battery I am not to concerned about 22 watts running. On to the gas usage, given we have a large home along with large heated pool/Jacuzzi and outdoor gas fireplace etc. we have a very large diameter gas line with a smart meter. I can always here the meter gurgling so to speak when any of the large items are being uses including the hot water tank, to date after checking numerous times I have yet to hear the gas meter or the actual hot water tank firing constantly, not saying it does not fire up once enough coldwater gets pushed back into it I am just not hearing it like a normal tank being heated up! So again I do not believe that the complaint of this using mass amount of utility to use 24/7 again as compared to dupping 100s of gallons a day down the drain I fully believe at best it is a gain in savings at worse it is a break even! I did have to purchase a second sensor kit to place in the kitchen downstairs as our home has a branched Hot water line since doing so even our kitchen sink water is now warm to hot within seconds. I have yet to experience the so called major bleedback into the cold water line that some have stated happens that when they turn on the cold water it is warm to hot for a brief moment, either way even if I did it is still worth every penny for this setup!

Adding this pump to our hot water system has provided hot water to the farthest faucet in 10-15 seconds versus 2 and 1/2 minutes before the pump was installed. We have noticed that the floor (slab covered by tile) gets "warm" in areas where the copper plumbing pipes run through the house. When turning on the cold water it isn't as cold as what it was previously. We attribute both of these to heat transfer between the hot water pipes being in close proximity to each other in slab and walls. Part of it is because the heat pump now uses the cold water plumbing as the return line unless you have a dedicated whole house return line. It's only been installed for a week, so far so good.

I happened upon the idea of hot water recirculating pumps while looking for a small on demand hot water heater for under my kitchen sink. My home is over 4,000 square feet and has 5 different levels plus a basement. Hot water is supplied via a single gas heater in my basement. The kitchen sink is actually the closest tap to the heater but with mine and my wife's schedule, we are actively using hot water at two different times of the day. My wife and I are both up at 5 am, I get ready for work while my wife works out. In prefer a shower at night so in the morning I'm only preparing my breakfast and packing a lunch. After preparing breakfast and lunch I'd rinse the dishes, the hot water would reach the tap just as I was finishing. I'm out the he door by 6 am at which time my wife is be jumping in the shower. She'd have to let the shower in the master bedroom run for a min or so to get hot. The master bath is above the kitchen. At night I hit the gym on the way home. I'm home around 6 at which point I'd clean up my dishes and make dinner or if my wife cooked I'd eat. My wife gets home from work around 5 pm. I'm in the shower between 8-9 pm and as the saying goes, rinse and repeat..... I've found that I'm constantly waiting for hot water. When my wife and I return home from work, we clean or rinse dishes etc and the water takes time to warm up. As we all know, once the pipes get hot, the subsequent use of hot water within 15-30 mins results in instant hot water. When I move upstairs to my master bath, the cycle repeats, the pipes leading to the shower have to heat up since the bathroom wasn't used since 6 am that morning. Solution, I purchased this unit and installed the valve on the guest bathroom which is on the same level as my master bath and happens to be the farthest from the hot water heater. I set the timer on the pump to run from 4am-10am and 4pm-10pm. I found that hot water wasn't instant at the kitchen or master bathroom but it only took 5 seconds or so for hot water. The guest bathroom has instant hot water at these times and the cold water from the sink comes out like warm for 20-30 seconds. Conclusion: the pump is honestly a no brainer. The only drawback is the sink with the valve won't have instant cold water, instead it will be luke warm for some time. The power consumption is minimal, any worry about cost of operation should first consider the cost of operating a TV or computer va this until which saves literally thousands of gallons of water. As far as energy consumed heating additional water, I would consider this; based on my hot usage, my pump turn on about 1 hr before my wife and I wake up and start using hot water. The hot water heater will trigger startup about 30-60 minutes after the pump Has started due to the drop in temperature caused by the pump slowly circulating hot water. Once we start using hot water, this of course adds to the demand on the hot water heater what I found is that the hot water heater doesn't start more often, it just runs for a longer period of time. This is a win win because the units waste most of the energy consumed (gas, oil or electric) during startup as the components get up to temperature. Think of it like this, how much has downs your car consume while driving down the highway? Cars are most efficient when traveling down the road in its highest hear at between 60-75 mph. Any faster and the wind resistance takes significantly more effort to overcome. Any slower and the vehicles motor is turning to slow to create enough power to maintain speed or a lower gear is needed which is less efficient. Your hot water heater about 10-20 minutes after startup is like your car cruising down the road as I explained. Now think about when your car is stopped and turned off. To get going your first have to turn the car on then start driving. While excelerating, your car is very inefficient but once up to speed, all is well and it's becomes efficient again. Setting up the timer to turn the pump when you normally use water will usually only extend the runtime of your hot water heater. This results in very little wasted energy but the water savings and impact on our environment from the saved water vs increased fuel consumption is dramatic. If you have a well and septic system as I do, this relieves close to 15% of water consumed from your well which in turn puts less stress on your septic as there is significantly less waste water. Lastly this pump includes one of the thermostatically controlled valves so don't bother purchasing a seperate one unless you have a home with a branched hot water line off the main line. In that case a second valve can be put on that line so you heve instant hot water from all taps.

We live on one floor in a condo. Because I'm retired, I have my timer set to turn on at 8:00 AM and off at 11:00 PM. I have a bypass valve installed on only one master bathroom sink. Fortunately, the other sink and shower tee off of the hot water line before it reaches the sink with the bypass valve. The kitchen also tees off closer to the water heater with a 12-foot run to the kitchen sink. Where we live, city water is expensive. Being in a condo, and normally careful with water, we were paying about $60 per month. In addition to having hot water quickly, our water bill has dropped to $50, or less. I have not noticed any change in the electric bills. Some observations: 1. the pump is very quiet. I have to feel it to tell if it's running. For those experiencing a noisy pump, you either have a defective pump, or it might not have been installed in the correct orientation. It must be on a vertical pipe. 2. The pump does not move hot water through the pipes continuously. The bypass valve will close when the hot water in the supply line comes up to temperature. What temperature, I do not know, but at least 100 degrees. Below that, it opens and allow the cooled down hot water to return back to the pump. The pump is designed to run without trying to force hot water through the pipe. When is does, it moves it slowly, and as soon as the hot water reaches the valve, the valve closes. 3. Watts uses a Grundfos bypass valve. They might be the only source of bypass valves. The fail. Ours did after just over 2 years. Replacements are $65 to $75. I have seen several reviews about the plastic cracking and leaks at the connection. Your water lines must have a gasket, no plumber's tape. It's Teflon anyway and loaded with PFAS chemicals. Without a good gasket, the fitting could easily be over 4. I believe our bypass valve failed due to fine sand, calcium (hard water), and magnesium in the city water supply. I can see how this could easily be the cause of our valve failing, but there's no room to install a filter in our mechanical closet. Other plumbing valves have also had to be replaced in our condo. The valve had visible debris. There is a screen on one end and it was also not clean. It's just like an aerator screen on faucets. It might be possible to soak a valve that is not working in vinegar and reuse it. Maybe a plumber can comment about installing a filter under the sink just before the valve. We had one on a steam humidifier that worked perfectly and took very little room. HOwever, the cartriges cost more to replace every year than a new bypass valve. There is a simple test you can make to see if your bypass valve is not working. The steps are in the installation instructions -- troubleshooting. Is it the valve, or poor water?

We have been in this house for 6 years and have been frustrated with how long it takes to get the hot water from the tank to the bathroom. We were always washing hands and brushing teeth with very cold water, and running the tub for a long time before any hot water got there. Finally I found out about this product. I wasn’t too enthusiastic about using the cold line as a return. I thought that would result in warm water when we wanted cold. Also I replaced my tank a couple of years ago and the new tank has a heat trap so I read that it would be a problem with the proper operation of this unit. But my research found that worst case was that I could remove the heat trap on the hot side and replace it with a plain nipple so I decided to purchase the unit and try it out. Installation was fairly straight forward although I had to remove a section of copper pipe and solder it back together, but that was a minor task for me. The hardest part of the installation was tightening the fitting onto the outlet side. There is nothing on the pump housing designed to put a wrench on to stop the pump from turning. I had to put a crescent wrench on the housing where it bolts together which had me a bit concerned about cracking the housing. It did turn out ok though. I got it all installed and fired it up. It is quiet, slight hum, but it is located in an unfinished b a segment (cellar really) so unless I go down there I can’t hear it. The great part is that the heat trap has not interfered with the operation at all. I get hot water at the bathroom sink and tub almost immediately. This makes me very happy every time I turn on the tap. I don’t use the timer at all. I installed a smart outlet linked to a phone app so I can shut off the pump whenever I need to (like if we are going away) but so far the pump runs 24/7 since we are home most of the time, and we want hot water at the bathroom even in the middle of the night. One bonus is that I also get hot water sooner at the kitchen which is on a different branch but it tees off about 10 feet after the tank, so its already about ⅓ of the way there. I may upgrade with an additional valve under the kitchen sink but I am thinking that I will be ok with it the way it is for now. It has been about 2 weeks since install and I am very happy with this pump system.

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This is a quality product with good seals and instructions making for an easy installation. Instead of the built-in timer, I'm using a smart timer controlled by my phone.

I love this pump. It works great.

The pump and temperature bypass valve have been installed for approximately 1 week and so far so good. I had a concern that the cold water line would be too warm with the hot water bypassing into it to maintain hot water lime temp but not too bad. The cold water from the faucet at the bypass valve sink is at about room temperature. It is a trade off to have room temp cold water instead of icy cold-cold water at the tap since I didn't have to plumb in a return line. I did install a downstream ball valve so the HWH & pump can be isolated if anything requires service in the future The pump has been running 24/7 as I have yet to program the timer so not sure how that is going to work.