De dagelijkse Uiteinden van de Vernieuwing van het Huis

Not sure about whether a particular product is right for you or your home?

Take advantage of free estimates offered by some home renovation product installers.

Take Drain Water Heat Recovery Devices (DWHR). We really like them We think they are a very simple yet useful device to use the used hot temperature of a shower or dishwasher to help warm the fresh cold water coming into the house. This occurs by was of the used hot water leaving the house by way of a special copper pipe on the outside of which is more copper tubing through which the cold fresh water coming into the house is directed.

We have written about these devices previously, including in our series about the Energy Efficiency Evaluation Report (energy audit report) we received as part of our participation in the ecoENERGY Retrofit program:  ecoENERGY Report - Part 7 - Recommendations .

Well, even though we really like them we were not sure about the plumbing in our house since prior owners had 20 years before we took over to do ’stuff’. And, we were not sure of the payback. So, we called in a national firm who not only sold one of these devices but also installed them.

Sure enough the person was very nice and knowledgeable. In the end we decided that we would not spend the money to purchase one and have it installed. Why? Well, we discovered with the in home estimator’s help where that darn main drain pipe was located. Would you believe that one of the previous owners had covered up the main vertical drain pipe behind not just any wall of the finished basement bathroom. No, that would have been too easy, as they say.

They covered up the main vertical drain pipe with a wall against which was the sink, the cabinet that the sink was in and the hung mirror. And, to add to this, they did what you know from a few months ago is one of my pet peeve of home renovations. They drywalled the ceiling in the basement bathroom. This meant that we would need to also break the drywall in the ceiling to connect the fresh incoming water lines between the DWHR device and our hot water tank.

So, at the end of the day, because prior renovations in our home covered up the main vertical drain pile, it is cost prohibitive for us to spend money to have in stalled any DWHR device.

It’s great to use these in home free estimates to confirm what you thought you already knew or to add to your knowledge to make a truly fact based decision allowing you to have a greater chance of making the right decision.

Yes, the estimate is not ‘free’. To you, it costs your time.