Too long to get hot water

[WendyS]

I consume almost half a bowl of running water before I get the hot water I need from our 3 year old boiler. Can anything be done to speed up the rate at which hot water comes through? (We're in a hosepipe ban area so I don't waste it but ransfer it to a bucket outside the kitchen door for garden watering). However, that doesn't solve the problem; just ensures that the water isn't wasted straight down the drain

[Tweed]

Try insulating the hot water pipes, then at least the water won't cool down as quickly.

[buildersmate]

You can't easily do anything more than the above to get hot water quickly from the tap because you have to remove the contents of the pipe first - 'cooled' hot water already in the pipe from the tank to the tap. This is a product of the distance and the diameter of the pipe (you may well have 22mm pipe for part of the 'journey' not 15mm, increasing the amount that has to be drawn off first). For small amounts, what about boiling the kettle?

[heathfield]

This is something that no-one seems to think about, (especially the government), when they advise installing combi boilers. The distance from the boiler to the point of use, with the consequent energy loss in wasted hot water just left sitting in the pipe, never seems to be mentioned.

[ianess]

Very true.....one major fault in my house is that the pipe run from boiler to tap is about 45ft......totally ludicrous because the vertical separation is only around 12ft. Virtually impossible to find a plumber to alter it in any way.....they'd rather renew a system than just make a simple [for a tradesman] alteration.