I have a Gundorf circulating pump installed at my water heater. It works well but I noticed that the cold water source coming in to the water heater is warm/hot to the touch. I want to tap that cold water source to install a water line to a garage refrigerator ice maker. Can I still do this with that water source being so warm?
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1other than taking ice maker long time to make ice, yes you can– TravelerCommented Jun 24 at 22:44
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There is all-but-certainly a better location to source the cold water for the fridge.– EcnerwalCommented Jun 27 at 1:27
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1 Answer
This is a common drawback to hot water recirc pumps. They end up pushing warm water back down the cold water line.
To answer the question, yes, you can tap into that warm water to provide water supply to your fridge. You'll simply be providing warm/hot water to it, so it'll use more power at the fridge to cool it back down to drinking/ice making temperature.
Note that the water will cool somewhat on the way to the garage, how much depends on the length of the run and the air temperature through which it runs. Using copper piping for this should improve the heat transfer from the water to the air. If the air temp is cool enough (running through air conditioned space), you could add extra piping to allow it to give off more heat on its way or even run it through a radiator.
You might also look to see where your pump feeds back into the system and consider adding a back flow preventer valve up stream of that (to prevent warm water from getting any further up stream), then tap cold water from before that. You might also be able to replumb where that pump feeds water back into the system to put it in a more appropriate location - into the hot water tank's drain is one option.
