Despite my best efforts to keep my amateur standing as a really bad weekend plumber, I have just managed to successfully install our new ACT Metlund "D'mand" pump unit and am quite pleased with the results. As advertised, to start the unit we simply push a little button, like a doorbell, mounted in the front of our master bedroom vanity cabinet. There is a faint hum as the pump turns on. About forty five seconds later (in our case), the unit turns itself off and, voila, we have hot water at the sink. The shower, across the room, gets hot about five seconds after the valve is turned, versus the two minutes it used to take. Water wasted: maybe a cup. Power used: practically too small to measure.
Activation push button on cabinet
Motor mounted under sink
The installation, as one might expect from a really bad weekend plumber like me, took more time than expected. The basic installation instructions were simple: 1) turn off the house's water supply, 2) remove the two angle valves under the sink (one each for the hot and cold water supply pipes), 3) install new 't' fittings (supplied) at each pipe, 4) reinstall the angle valves, 4) connect the new pump unit with the supplied flexible piping, 5) turn on the house water supply, 6) install the pre-wired push button and plug the unit in. My first plumbing mistake was not thoroughly understanding the nature of the pressure fittings that had been used on the original installation of the sink. It therefore took a bit of time and some choice words to get the angle valves unscrewed from the supply pipes. This would have taken about five minutes for someone who knew what they were doing. The next problem involved the fact that the old rigid piping connecting the angle valves to the faucet could not be bent to meet the new fittings. This necessitated a visit the hardware store (weekend handyman projects inevitably require at least one emergency trip to the hardware store, so this wasn't entirely unexpected) to get new flexible piping connectors. From then on the installation was pretty straightforward, at least till the water was turned on again...
Which is why I don't do plumbing, why I had to tell my wife not to let me ever, ever try to do plumbing again. Leaks, little leaks, big leaks. Tighten one joint, another gets loose, tighten that one, tighten the next, tighten some more, all in a space a few inches too small and too hard to reach for anyone who is not an ambidextrous oompa loompa. A few of the fittings were too large for my crescent wrenches, so pliers were called for. A few more knuckles were scraped. A few more choice words were used. By the end of the afternoon it looked like all the leaks were stopped except ones up at the faucet connections, which were conveniently impossible to reach except with special plumbing tools. It was decided to call the professionals in the morning.
In the calm of the morning, things looked better. I discovered the remaining leaks were fixable without professional help, and further careful tightening over the next few days has eliminated all the remaining drips.
We have now been using the unit for a few days and are delighted with the results. Save time, save water, save money with very little investment.
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