Taco HLS-1 Hot-Link System

This business sent a defective part (almost $500) that was installed by a plumber. After a week, it failed. Because it’s 35 days since ordered (not shipped), they want a restocking fee to return and want the part back. Well, who is going to pay the plumber to remove and plug the piping? I would highly recommend you stay away from this business… No help, No service and a waste of time and money!

Looked at a number of systems - Taco, Grundfos, Watts, Autocirc, and Redytemp. Grundfos and Watts are basically the same. Redytemp has an advanced bypass valve that has a check valve to provide anti-siphon, issues other products don't deal with. It also has complete programmable time/day AND temp control. Problem is you can't buy the bypass valve separately so you need to buy an entire system for each bypass valve. Autoarc has the bypass valve attached to the pump so you have the same problem. If you need more than one bypass valve, you need to buy another whole system. Grundfos/Watts had separate bypass valves, but they were not cleanable and you had to replace the whole valve if it went bad. $$$. So I went with Taco. Design is similar to Grundfos/Watts, but you can clean the valve. Installation was a breeze for this home owner without a plumber. Installed the pump and 3 bypass valves. Timer on/off/timer with 15 min intervals. It has a fancy clock face to help you see the time you are setting it, as well as the pointer. Pump runs VERY quiet, and hot due to the hot water running through it. Check valves are not quite what I hoped. There's a pin hole for the hot water to run through to the cold line with a screen in front of it. When the metal valve inside hits 90 degrees, it closes it off from the cold line. Can't speak about any siphoning happening from the cold line, but I doubt it's much since the pump keeps the hot line at a slightly higher pressure as noticed when we first turn on the hot water. It takes about 15 min for the valve to close at our house at the furthest bypass valve. The cold water line produces warmer water for about 5 min until it cools down. We get the hot water as advertised. As the water in the hot line cools, it opens the metal valve again to flush the warm water into the cold line until it hits 90 degrees again, and then you get hot water. So depending on when you use your faucet, it may be in the middle of a cycle and the water isn't as hot, or at the end of a cycle when it is. Same with the cold water. In the middle of a cycle the water is warmer. About 5 min after the end of a cycle it's cold again. All in all, very happy we don't have to wait very long, if at all for hot water that used to take over a minute to get to the furthest part of the house. The cleanable bi-pass valve was the tipping point for me. While slightly more expensive initially, you won't have to replace as often.

The pump works well. The analog clock is a waste of space time and money. Every power outage affects the clocks accuracy. I bought a GPS timer to get around this weakness. Now power outages don't affect the start and stop time of the pump.

We are in the final days of a 3 month long bathroom remodel where many things were poorly done and required multiple trips from the workmen. The plumber installed the pump at out recently replaced gas hot water tank located in the garage. The first day the pump ran for 3/4 an hour in the morning and the same at dinner time. Then we noticed an electrical burning smell from the pump. It was scalding hot. I spoke with the TACO tech who said it normally runs warm. I assumed we got a defective pump. TACO does not do the warranty replacement. Their policy is to take it back to where you purchased it from and that company is responsible for getting it back to TACO and providing the customer with a new unit. AMAZON was fantastic in quickly sending me a replacement pump and providing a shipping label to return to defective pump.But the new pump got scalding hot like the first pump. Then I realized it was the temperature of the hot water going into the pump. It dawned on me that since the hot water heater was recently replaced we had to adjust the cold/hot blend at faucets more towards the cold side. I measured the temperature of the hot water and found it at 150 degrees. I called the TACO tech again. He said this pump is designed to work up to 200 degrees. But that if I reduce the hot water tank to a normal 125 the pump will not run so hot. He is correct. He also said any electrical burning odor from the pump will dissipate in a few days. That is also correct.Installation: the pump has uncommon fittings that required the plumber find at a specialty plumbing supply and required multiple adapters to finally get the basic pex pipe coming out of the hot water heater to connect to the pump. I wanted to make some kind of pipe I could put in place of the pump in an emergency if the pump fails, but I could not find the fittings to simulate what the pump has on both ends. It would be nice if TACO provided a dummy bypass pipe for such an occasion in case one has to remove the pump for warranty replacement.Now as for practical use: Since my water pipes are insulated in my crawl space, the hot water remains warm for a few hours. The only issue we experienced is that since the pump has been installed, more luke warm water stays in the lines all day long. So when one takes a shower between the period the pump is scheduled, we would adjust the temperature to that warm water that we now quickly have, but when the full hot water reaches the shower we would get blasted with hot water suddenly and quickly have to readjust the faucet. When taking a shower during the time the pump is scheduled, the full hot water temperature comes out within a few seconds and that delayed blast is not an issue. Just a quirk to keep in mind.Update: After a year the valve under the sink would start shaking. Cleaning it did not help. I contacted the manufacturer who said to contact Amazon for a warranty replacement, The new unit worked fine, for about six months, Now the shaking is back. I have to open a water faucet to relieve the pressure and the vibration stops. It bangs against the wall and wakes us up. Going to disconnect the unit. Frustrating.I originally wanted to buy the pump that mounts under the sink, has a button one presses to start it, and then a temperature sensor shuts it off. But the tech at the company said that was used only with on demand water heaters.

The pump works fine to circulate the hot water to the faucet through the hot-link valve. There is a high pitched noise that comes from the water flowing through the valve. The noise stops when the water in the line gets hot enough for the valve to close. The timer to turn the pump on and off would be ok if I needed the hot water delivered to the faucets at specific times. Unfortunately, hot water needs do not work on a schedule. The clock is divided into 15 minute periods where the pump may be turned on and off. The pump get very hot in just 5 minutes and circulates plenty of hot water. The pump and hot-link valve were easy to install.I started turning the pump on manually for 3-5 minutes to save on energy and keep the pump from getting too hot. I would like to see a wireless switch with a timer to turn the pump on when you need it and turn off after a pre-set time.