A hot water recirculator (circulator pump) is a device that circulates hot water through a house’s pipes so that hot water is always instantly available. In traditional one-way plumbing systems, water is run through a hot water heater and directed through the pipes towards the taps whenever a tap is turned on.
When a tap is off, the water remaining in the pipes begins to cool and becomes stagnant. This is why users often have to wait a few seconds for the water to get hot. In a plumbing system that has a hot water recirculator installed, however, water is constantly circulated and re-heated so that the water is hot whenever the user needs it.
Typically, a hot water recirculator is placed near the hot water heater and continuously pumps and circulates water. Because fluid in a closed-loop pipe always returns to its starting point, a hot water recirculator only needs to pump the water hard enough to overcome the friction of the water against the pipes.
Hot water recirculators are usually self-contained and fit all of its parts inside a water-tight casing. They have a small motor that powers a device known as an impeller. The impeller is a wheel with angled blades that shapes the water into a jet stream as the impeller rotates and water passes through it.
