LESLIE: David in Tennessee is just having a hard time getting enough hot water in his house. What can we do for you today?
DAVID: I was wondering – I live in a real small house and my water heater is in the closet and I was wanting to take it out and put it in a crawlspace; maybe buy one of those low-profile hot water heaters. And another thing too, my house only has half-inch pipe. It’s an older house. I was wondering if you could suggest anything.
TOM: Well, what’s the problem you’re trying to deal with here, David? Is the fact that it takes a long time for your water to get hot in the different fixtures?
DAVID: Yes.
TOM: Well – but changing the size of your water heater is not going to fix that; changing the location could. For example, if you had a water heater that was closer to your bathroom, then obviously the bathroom would get the water quicker than it did if it was farther away from the bathroom. And so, one of the advantages of, for example, a tankless water heater, is that they’re small so you can fit them in more spaces closer to the place that you actually want to use that. But to make that change, you’d have to zone the water. So in other words, if you had two of them in your house, you’d have to have two separate loops of water.
So I think if you’re asking “How can I get the water quicker?”; unfortunately, that requires physically moving the water heater closer to where you want to use it.
DAVID: OK. Thank you. I love your show.
TOM: Well, thank you so much.
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