I like your honest, knowledgable and straight forward approach in your video, sharing your pertinent observations and experience like we are your friends, not boring and not pretending to be a TV show with bad acting or waste of time "I'm gonna talk about" or ridiculous logos and intros and never getting to the point. You're great!

I had a problem understanding how the bridge valve worked. Kind of a simple genius solution. You gave a great explanation. I'm calling the plumber soon. Thanks, Ken

Very good explanation of the bridge valve or thermal valve. I’ve listen to many KZfaq’s on this and it becomes very simple after I’m acquainted with it in the circulating pump but your explanation under the sink is the best I’ve heard. Plus you mentioned you can use the bridge valves on multiple areas which I wasn’t sure if.

Nice dyi idea. I would highly highly suggest you put some type of support under that pump as you have the weight of the pump and hose on that shark bite fitting. As cool as those shark bite fittings are, having it how you have it, it's a ticking tune bomb waiting to pull apart and flood that room. Also fasten that bridge valve to the cabinet wall, pipes and hoses need to be supported as the stress is what weakens them then eventually coming home to a flooded bathroom. That is why pipe supporting is plumbing code. Thanks for the informative video on how to save money on water 👍

Dude you are awesome !!! That’s exactly what I was looking for. Great step by step video.

I have been using a similar setup at my place and it's nice but I get hot water coming out from the Cold side at times. This is a great alternative to the expensive returned piping.

These recirculating pumps work awesome!

Sir, I saw some similar videos and no one example, how a bridge valve works. Your video is in-depth and more informative. Thank you

Best advice on this situation thank you very much!!

Answered my question, yes I can install multiple bridge valves in the system. Great video, thanks!

Hi Paul, thanks for taking the time to create this video and share your experience, greatly appreciated! I am shopping outdoor tankless units and was debating if I needed a built in recirculating pump, which is quite expensive. Your solution is far cheaper and more practical for older home piping configurations. I love the added bonus of the Alexa integration idea too! Nicely done!

The Smart plug is a game changer. Thanks!

Recirculating systems on a timer are awesome! I would never own a home without it.

Great video. Thanks for the education and making me decide on what to purchase.

Thanks for the detailed video. I added our pump under the sink and used Kasa (TPLINK) smart plug. You can set a Smart Action to always turn the plug off after xx minutes.

I knew I wasn't clever. Awesome video thanks for sharing this was stupid useful even though I wasn't looking for it. I saw the title and thought damn it's a thing. And should be probably more common then just now seeing it is. Cause with an rv this is stupid useful on limited water. Thanks a bunch

Great info we need some in Jamaica to use like now when we are having a cold front and older folks can't manage the cold water thanks for yr video bye

Thanks Paul.... Greatly appreciated👍

Great video! cpvc scares me. I had all of my piping replaced with pen tubing.

Great Vid! Very informative

You are the man! Recently i moved into a new home that has these tankless water heater. Takes forever to get hot water to the master bath. I was looking for a recirculating pump from Rinnai and it was just too many parts to buy and too expensive. This solution is much simpler and easier to install.

Thanks for great video. I just finished similar install with my 14 year old Bosch tankless water heater. Everything works well. Set up my smart plug schedule to run the pump for 3 minutes every hour 7 am to 8 pm. So far so good.

Excellent Video !

Thanks for the video. I just starting researching this topic. One question is we have a water softener on just the hot water supply. This will now put the salt water into the cold water lines. At the kitchen sink we would need a different source of water. Question two is how much does the water heater run? It seems the whole sales pitch for the tankless is that it doesn't run much unless you ask for hot water. With this system is the water heater running all the time the pump is on or a lot of the day. Also our Rinnai doesn't seem to modulate very well. You can not just put a low flow through it and have it work. It needs a good flow for it to kick on. Not sure if that pump would trigger it. Thanks

Paul thanks this vídeos is very good.

Great information thank you!

It's important to know you should only put in 1 bridge valve on certain tankless heaters. Rinnai for example often have built in recirculating pumps and explicitly state to only use one bridge valve or what they call a thermal bypass valve. Seemingly the same thing.

Great video. Thx!

Super job great video. Thanks

I believe this same method can be used on a tank style water heater, too, since it sends the inline water back into the cold water line.

I have been researching about bridge valves (cannot find them in my country) so the shipping is very expensive. I was about to ask how does the pump stop before burning but by the end of the video you just turn it off manually. I think I'm going to use a solenoid valve (cheaper and I can choose which faucet to warm first whenever I like) instead of the bridge (I control it using Home Assistant) something you can also do with that app probably (scrips or scenes) if you can't just use sonoff devices and the ewelink app . Since you have the bridge valve you can add a flow valve to the pump, so if the flow stop the pump also stops, and even if you turn on the pump and the bridge is still hot it won't allow it to start..

Thank you so much. Exactly what we needed!

Having such a hard time finding one that'll work with my tankless system. This exact one on Amazon says it won't work. WHO DO I BELIEVE?!? lol thanks for the vid looks easy enough. Maybe I'll give this a try even though Amazon reviews say it won't work

And also i would love to see a video of you explaining whole system operation and pipes around the tankless water heater. Or maybe can anybody just tell me if in the place of recirculation pump installation before it was just a straight pipe from the cold water line?

I wanted to throw a comment here - We built a 2900sqft single story home this past year - builder stated the Tankless Water Heater (TWH) was great and we would love it - In our previous home of 15 years we had a 60 gallon gas water heater and was great no problems - Anyway house completed 4 months ago and we moved in - Sooo guess what - we have hated the TWH - we built a large 1 story home and the TWH is on the other side of the house in the crawl space - takes about 4 minutes every morning to get hot water to the Master Bath... wife takes shower at 530 am and myself at 630 AM - so of course the water cools down in that hour and we waste soooo much water. We saw this video and was so excited and did the install - simple enough - bought the pump in this video only upgrading to the stainless steel housing, bought the Watts under sink connector off Amazon which BTW gets bad long term reviews, Gosund smart plug...1 shark bite union connector and 1 shark bite 18" hose connector - total parts under $200 - Time to install everything about 2 hours - Verdict - FAIL - noticed no pre improvement in hot water - still wasted same amount of water and took same amount of time to get hot water to MB. BUT - guess what - IM now loving my TWH the most since moving in to our new home. . We returned the Watts thermo valve back to Amazon ($62) - went to Lowes and bought (3) 20 feet sections of 3/4 PEX($36), 2 pex Tee ($5), 2 pex couplings($5), 1 shark bite check valve($8), roll of 25' plastic hanging strap, small box flat head nails, a crimp tool/pex cutter/ crimp connector combo kit off Amazon ($28) - so total of about $92 - additional items we bought was 20 pieces of 3/4" foam tubes to insulate hot water pipes. ---- So total amount was still under $300. We had a quote from the plumber that did the plumbing in our home and he quoted us $1800 to do the work. . Spent about 1.5 hours under the house running the 3/4" pex from Master bath back to TWH adding insulation and hanging with the straps as we went - we placed a tee connector on the cold water side just before coming into water heater and installed check valve before the TEE - so now I have a complete hot water loop where in the morning I can tell Alexa to turn on hot water and my hot water is now super heated because the pump cuts on , causing the TWH to cut on, heats the water then recirculates back through the TWH again heating the hot water again and again. I now loose very little water in the morning and Im assuming that Im not using as much gas as its reheating the warm/hot water again and again- Im talking I turn on my hot water and within 10 seconds I can take a hot shower ( has to bleed out the cold water in the 1/2" pipe coming from the 3/4" pipe) - Frigging nice - I mean NICE. Just as a background - never did any plumping like this before - my wife and I are both nurses - but I am also very mechanically inclined and never pay to do stuff I can do myself. Oh yeah - the smart plug works great and I now have the pump timed to come on at 525am - off at 530 , on at 625am and off at 630 and of course can tell Alexa to turn on at demand - not perfect but not wasting all that water either. . I write all this to encourage anyone that it really wasn't that hard nor time consuming - that is if you have a 1 story home and have access to your crawl space - if you have a slab foundation or 2 story then dont think its to easy. lol - I say time consuming - we had to make a few different trips back to Lowes because we forgot to get the check valve one time and we misaligned a shark bite connector the other time and needed that little orange $2 part to separate the shark bite connection to recut a little straighter pex cut. The Amazon cutters were not the best quality. . one more point I will add - when we received the Watts connector from Amazon the plastic clam packaging had been opened before and lots of tape keeping it shut, so its assumable that someone had did the swappo and returned a bad unit but stating it was good - so maybe that's why I didn't have favorable results such as the maker of this video. Good luck and stay safe and remember to always be nice to others - we need more nice people in this world of ours.

Im in Western Australia and i have a Rheem instant hot water system. It runs on Natural gas and installed outside mounted to the wall and its pretty good, however as the bathrooms are located on the opposite side of house water wastage waiting for the hot water to heat up huge. I would love to get that installed in my home. Obviously the power requirements are different but im sure a step down power transformer can sort that out.

Paul good video after seeing your video I also use Alexa to control the pump I did one thing different; I tell "alexa turn on hot water", smart switch turns on pump for 2 1/2 minutes (in my case on a very cold morning it takes a little over 2 minutes to heat up the hot water pipe. I found that sometimes alexa did not turn off the pump so i use the gosund app to detect the pump is on and turns it off after 3 minutes (incase alexa had a hiccup and did not turn off pump). So when i get ready for a shower "alexa turn on hot water" Alexa responds "I'll put on a pot" then 2 1/2 minutes latter alexa responds on all alexa devices ""water is hot" latter when my wife is ready for her shower she repeats the process. Again thanks for your video had a lot of good information

I started this way, but save yourself a lot of waste and aggravation and get motion sensors and ditch the timers. Only runs when someone enters those rooms and turns off in 5 minutes, all I needed for the water to be hot in all locations with a dedicated recirc line.

Thanks for you great video

Great Video Paul! Question? I wonder if I can just use the bridge valve only to circulate cold water without using the pump? I mean I would get the pump and the bridge valve but just wondering? Thank You!

Thank you for your video

Not sure if I'd want water in my cold water pipes that was once in my water heater. We have a whole-house water filtration system and I love the fresh, cold water coming out of the faucets.

Paul, great video! I installed a Noritz gas tankless gas water heater, model NRC98DV (gq-c2857ws-ff us) indoor installation. The instructions for installing a recirculation pump requires a maximum of 2 GPM. it also says that a pump control signal is the preferred method to control the recirculation pump. For pumps larger than 85w, a relay connection must be used. If the pump control signal is not used, an Aquastat may be used to control the pump. I had planned to use a smart plug to control the pump run time, what do you recommend? Bob Genzel

Hi Paul, thanks for this posting. I also recently installed the same pump, only the stainless version. The system works fantastic however I wanted to share some more information for anyone reading these posts. I have a Rinnai Tankless heater, with the circulation pump on the cold (inlet) side of the heater, and I have two under-sink Taco Hot-Link Valves, one in the 2nd floor bathroom and one under the 1st floor Kitchen Sink. What I did notice is that this pump (located in the basement) does not have enough force to overcome the head of the 2nd floor, and satisfy the water heaters flow switch. Once I added the 1st floor valve (which I was planning to do all along), the flow was able to satisfy the water heater. Bear in mind that there was and is flow to the 2nd floor, just not enough to energize the heater by itself. This pump is rated for 8-GPM's, which is twice the flow that should satisfy the WH, but not if only pushing up to the 2nd floor due to the head. That being said, with both valves installed, the water heater will shut down as soon as the 1st floor Taco valve closes due to hot water being present, even if the 2nd floor is still flowing. All that said, the system works fantastic and provides hot water to both floors. I also installed a smart plug and just asks Alexa to start the pump anytime I need instant hot water.

Thanks Paul for this. To share my experience... I used the Grundfos Comfort System (pump plus their "comfort valves" - which are the same as the bridge values) since 2005 with a Tankless. Like you, I used a smart receptacle to control the pump (X10 given when I was doing this it was pretty much the only option). But, the pump Grundfos provided didn't create enough flow, in my case 0.5GPM, to trigger the tankless to fire (the Grundfos system is design for water tanks, so I was trying to hack it for tankless since there were no good tankless recirc options without a dedicated return line on the market in ~2004-2005). So this meant, when I first set it up the pump would just circulate cold water to the faucets! :-( But I discovered on my tankless it was possible to "fake" the 0.5GPM flow switch, i.e. cause the Tankless to fire even if the flow rate was 0,5GPM flow, it would then fire, and the pump would pump the hot water via the comfort vales and hey presto... hot water at the faucets. Then in 2018 I had to change my tankless. My new tankless is far more digital so there was no easy way to fake the 0.5GPM. So for the past 2 years I've been without DHW recirc. Then I found this system www.fasterhotwater.com/Tankless%20circulation%20pump.shtml. I just purchased it and will be installing shortly. This system has a more powerful pump, so it will create much more than >0.5GPM, which will trigger the tankless to fire, *AND* get the water to the faucets way quicker than the Grundfos. Also this system uses the same comfort valves, so no need to switch them out (in fact bridge values used by FasterHotWater are made for them by Grundfos). Lastly, and this is the big advantage, this pump is triggered by any flow >0.17 gpm (about the flow rate when a drip becomes a stream). So opening and closing *any* hot water faucet for a second or two, will trigger the recirc system pump that will trigger the boiler. And 15-45seconds later (depends on how far the bridge valves are from the tankless), there is hot water at the faucets with bridge valves. Once the hot water arrives as the bridge valves, and these close, the flow goes to zero, and the pump turns off automatically (no deadheading, no timer needed). You can also control the pump via a smart receptacle (which I will also be doing). I'll try to remember to report back here once I've installed to share whether the reality lives up to this description! :-)

When you hooked water up to your internal tankless water heater did you just divert all of your water lines from the existing system?

Hi Paul, I think your fix is well thought out. I showed this to my plumber to see if he would do it. This was his reply, "I had a feeling you were going to send me that, I’ve put a lot of those in but not for a tankless. You can’t just slap a recirc pump on a tankless without a storage tank. Recirc pump goes on hot water tank outlet, crossover tee goes under furthest sink, and tankless out goes to storage tank inlet. If you don’t install it this way, you void the warranty." I have since asked him how he would suggest doing it.

But what if you want cold water when the pump is turned on.. will it be hot water coming out the faucet when you wanted cold? I get you said the device under the sink will switch when the temp gets warm enough, so does that mean it will start out warm/hot but then get cold?

Hello, I'm from Germany. What you're putting in there is a very good part. My question is can you also install it on a Vaillant 246/2-c boiler. With best regards

Hi Paul, thanks for your video which helped me to install a recirculation pump with my tankless. This Bokywox pump worked with ny tankless, before I purchased watts pump and it didn't work with my tankless but this one does work when connected with watts thermal valve under the sink. I connected it with digital timer that run every one hour for only two minutes from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm and it work fine and give faster hot water. Connecting it with smart plug like what you did will be a better choice if you want to control it with your mobile or with voice command which I may do in the future. Anyway I just wanted to thank you and to confirm this setup work with my tankless.

Paul, Thank your you for your video, it's very helpful. My tankless heater is outside the house and I think this BoxyWox pump is rated for indoor use only. So would it be OK to install this pump on the incoming hot line under the faucet which is farthest from the pump. I thinking it should work and my pump will be protected from the outdoor weather. Also what is the brand name of the smart outlet plug with an app that you show in your video.

Dude! I love you for this! You really explained the hell out of this and it was super super easy to understand if the viewer watched to the end! Absolutely phenomenally helpful!!👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Brilliant!

Hello, this is exactly what I need for our cottage, Would you have a list of the products and where you purchased from. Thanks

I use motion detectors to determine when to turn on and off my recirculating pump. Walk into the bathroom, the pump turns on for 3 min. More than enough time for hot water to reach the furthest end of the house.

Great video! thanks! Question, do you need a pump to have hot water faster just by using the Bridge valve?

Do you have a link where I can buy this? It would be nice if you put it in the video description for everyone else too.

Thank you for the video! I have a generic question: it was mentioned in this video that when OP first installed the tankless water heater, everything was working fine, and he got continuous hot water. But then he mentioned when his kids got older, they would have to wait for hot water. So does that mean that the standalone tankless water heater only works well when there are only a couple people using hot water? So if there are multiple people using water, then an external recirculation pump is needed? I currently have just tankless water heater with internal recirculation, do I still need a bridge valve at further sink upstairs?

Funny part at 4 minute mark, laughing so hard at whom ever was gonna get some hot water had to wait for your great video to end to be able to finish their shower. The things we won't do to make a good video.

Do you have a parts list ? Want to copy the set up on my older tankless but found it difficult to follow what parts you were using. Appreciate a quick response as I live I’m so cal and need to get on the drought wagon.

The Chinese circ pump ships with a Grundfos manifold, or was it already under your sink?

It it runs 24/7 it only cost about $20 dollars a year. But that smart plug is an awesome idea

What happens when the pumped hot water meets the cold pressurised mains water, where does it go?

My water heater in the middle of the house, so water outlets in all directions. Should I assume putting the bridge in the furthest away (in one direction) will still cycle hot water to all water outlets (including those in the opposite direction)?

Did adding the recirculating pump change the warranty on your tankless heater? Did it void the warranty or shorten it's duration?

Which way is the arrow on the pump going towards the water heater or away from water heater ?

Will this pump set up get hot water evenly and fast to each faucet

Like your setup. My Navien has a built-in pump, saving me that cost. Are those stainless braid flex hoses Home Depot house brand? They have a bad reputation for failing quickly.

Do you get instant "hot" water? I just installed a very similar system today and I get instant "warm" water, but it's as if the thermostat at the water diverter is set just a little too cool, it closes off when the water is warm but not hot, so I'm curious what your experience is.

Paul, where do you buy the components for your setup?

Nice work. thanks for the great video.

Is an expansion tank required when you add the recirculating pump? Thank you!

Question. How does the water recirculate through the cold water pipes when they are under pressure?? You can’t push water back into the city water supply and you can’t compress water. So how does that work??? Also I’m assuming the pump allows water to go through it when it isn’t running. Correct? Thanks for this video. I’m going to give it a try!!

bridge valve is set to 94 degrees. takes about 20 mins for mine to cycle hot water to to faucet. the bridge valves tend to freeze up with hard water systems. I keep a spare to replace mine about once per year. I soak the old one in vinegar for a day and it is ready to use next year. didn't include the cost of the alexa... so about the same as the units with the timer. I don't see how the tankless system saves anything if it running all the time when the pump is running?

when the water stops, does the pump continue to pump? won't that burn it up? a parts list would be awesome.

Where did you get the pump, also what is the name of the pump?

Thanks, nice video and explanation..I am about to get the mac daddy Rinnai which comes with recirc and crossover valve. My question to you is how much does the crossover valve create an issue by warming your cold water supply? Can it be blown off pretty quickly?

I tried this with the watts system from home depot. That pump doesn't pump enough for my tankless to turn on so if your doing this you need to find the right flow rate for your tank.

Is that A Watts pump? And you were able to install on a tankless water heater? I ordered one but when I read info, it sad not for use with tankless

Hi, Paul thanks great video. Instead of timing the pump, install a flowswitch on the hot water line. Therefore whenever somebody turns on the hot water faucet the pump will run.

And so as i understood now after the circulation, the cold line will have a hot water in it, and so if u will want cold water you gonna need to dump the hot water. AND if you are using water heater with a tank this water will be not much drinkable and you wont be able to use cold water untill you dump hot water, so this the flaw that i see in this device (bridge valve), can somebody confirm me if i am right? And its would be more feasable having dedicated recirculation line?

I was just wondering when did the pump keeps running after the bridge valve senses hot water and closes. If it does shut off how does it know to shut off?

how many bridge valve do you need? do you need 1 bridge valve for every area that needs on-demand hot water?

Do you necessarily need the recirculation pump to go with the bridge valves?

Is this why my cold water always warm and doesn’t seem to get hot?

So if I install these on the sink lines will it make shower hot too?

Thanks Paul.. So the bridge valve is sending cold water away from the hot side and into the cold side while water heats up? So in other words, it is not that you open the hot side, and get no water until it reaches the right temp? Rather the valve keeps the water hot in all the pipes by circulating the whole time the recirculation pump is on?

I think I have a Bad Bridge Sensor. Can you verify that with your faucets closed, your tankless senses the flow and heats the water up to the bridge valve? My Tankless water heater flow sensor and flow sensor(Circulation Pump) are not detecting flow when using the bridge valve. So I'm not automatically getting hot water to the bridge. However, when I turn on the faucet (hotside) I get hot water which is defecting the purpose.

Awesome video. I now have hot water as soon as I need it. It’s even in the cold water line (added bonus) and the hot water heater is always heating my water, electric bill is now through the roof. But hey I have hot water now! 🙄

Great video, does installing more than one thermal bypass valve work or does it confuse the water heater, I didn't think more than 1 can be installed, thanks!

I set up a system just like this. Same pump running on a Noritz NRC663‑FSV. Odd thing happened. It worked for about 3 months. But then the pump started turning on but the water heater doesn’t fire. So I replaced the pump with a new one of the exact same model and am getting the same result. Pump runs but heater won’t fire. Anyone had a similar situation or have an idea of what changed?

So does that mean you have hot water on your cold side?

Will the pump turn on once the sink is turned on or only if you turn the app on ?

I have some questions: How can you push water from the hotline into the cold line, when the cold water line is coming at pressure from the utility provider? - Does this setup mean that your cold water line isn't "cold" anymore?

With regards to the Bridge Value: Wouldn’t this valve build pressure on the cold water pipes? Eventually leading to leaks?

Good video but you don't have to put the pump on a timer they're designed to run all the time. I've had mine running every day for the last four or five years and it is still running.

You can install a flow valve which will turn the pump on demand with the water heater. Just and FYI if you haven't done it yet.

Thanks for the video. I have a tankless water heater and there is an extension from the hot water line coming out of the heater going to an expansion tank. Can I still install a recirculating pump? I don't think I saw an expansion tank in your setup.

Paul-- good video and I installed the pump like you (pumping out the hot water into the house) and one comfort valve at our kitchen sink-- but its not really helping get the hot water. Does multiple comfort valves actually let enough water recirculate to kick on the flow sensor in the Rinnai and start its production of hot water? Only planned to do two comfort valves. Plus I tried setting the internal settings of the Rinnai heater for a dedicated recirculation but not helping.

you could have the smart plug controlled by motion sensors set up in hallways to run the pump a few minutes.