dividing domestic hot water?

yes352

Hi

Me and my partner live in a 4 story home, we really would like to split the domestic hot water, so that floors 1,2, and 3,4, have their own heater and Bill. there are three mains that go up all the way to the top floor, so we thought maybe to add a second hot water line along each one of the mains up until the 2nd floor keeping the original lines for floor's 3 & 4 is this at all possible? Or is there a lot more to it?
If possible in what price range would it be?

TarheelTerp

everything comes down to the time and money
There is always more but only YOU can know what is there

The (existing) WH in the basement feeds upward...
does that ppe feed the upper floors serially?
or does each floor have a tee and branch off independently?

Assuming the first (far more common) scenario...
you're fuqued.

biggles

the bill for heat comes from the gas company and the water is also a service to make a seperate bill.you need meters on both to the other users name.that is all yours out of your pocket if the house isn't zoned for 2 family they won'r install either..if i'm reading you right

yes352

i do not have a tee that branches of to each floor independently it just goes all the way up and feeds each floor as it goes.

the house is zoned for 2 family and what we want to separate is not water bill but gas bill and hot water boiler.

the meters is not a problem but the piping is a big one, is there any easy way out? what would be ballpark figure for putting in new lines (in 3 locations) from basement going up just for bottom 2 floors just for hot water lines?
thabks

TarheelTerp

This implies that the fixtures that use water (and HW) are "stacked" one over the next. Is that correct?

That's what we're trying to flesh out.

But the answer/choices you'll end up is won't include "easy way out".
The question whether it's an expensive PITA to do it or monumental nightmare.

The meters (if allowed) are the easy part.
---

A compromise is to isolate the high consumption hot water fixtures (shower, dish washer, laundry, etc) within each apartment and to re-feed these from a small electric water heater off the tenants panel.

It will still involve a fair bit of plumbing and electrical work...
and of course the wall repair.

sdsester

Decades ago now I installed on demand Bosch water heaters in my California ranch house---one for living area demands and the other for the kitchen and laundry. I was tired of waiting hours and wasting water to get hot water for a shower on one end of the house (opposite from where the water heater in the garage was) and I certainly did not need the large tank in the garage for the kitchen sink, washer and dishwasher. I also had a terrible problem with hard water mineral deposits or salt additives from the water softener forcing water heater replacement every few years.

Anyhow, splitting the bathrooms from the kitchen and laundry demands worked out really well. At the time the units were expensive but they more than paid for themselves in savings. As far as I know they are still in the house but I have no way to check. They came with some sort of 50 year warranty (conditional on being installed by someone Bosch trained doing the install).

Just from a comfort standpoint it was great to have immediate hot water to the shower.

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