Every morning its the same thing. I wake up, drag myself to the bathroom, turn on the shower and stand there and wait. Sometimes it takes me up to 2 minutes for the shower water to get hot. There has got to be a better way. Just think of the wasted water and energy to heat water that ends up sitting in a tank.

Armed with motivation and Google I decided to look for alternatives to solve my problem. My searches lead me to three options. The first was the Instantaneous Tank-less Water Heaters. There is a large variety of systems available from the DIY stores. The system work well but are very expensive. Most heaters sell from $800 to $1,000. They are also difficult to install and may require you to hire a plumber and electrician.

A second option was to install a pump which would circulate the water on demand to your faucet. The system supplied by Metlund works by providing a button which you push at your faucet. This activates the pumps and rushes hot water to your outlet immediately. While this system works very well, it is also expensive about $400 to $600. It is possible to install the system yourself without hiring a plumber or an electrician. The other draw back is that you need to install an activator switch at each faucet if you want to have instant hot water at all of your fixtures.

The third option is a product known as Autocirc. The Autocirc product is easily installed underneath the sink at the point farthest away from the water heater. The pump is thermostatically controlled so it turns on and off automatically keeping the water warm at every faucet during it operation schedule. This schedule is set up via the pumps timer. The other nice fact about this Autocirc is that it saves the average family about 30,000 gallons of water per year and reduces the energy required to maintain the heated water in the tank, since the supply line never cools down or needs to be reheated. The Autocirc cost about $250, and is available form your local hardware store or plumber.

There are three very good alternatives to solving the problem of long waits for the morning shower. All options have their positive and negative attributes. Do some research your self, but realize there are alternatives that can solve these problems, conserve water and pay for themselves in energy savings.