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INNOVATION RESOURCES

Hot Water on Demand

Breakthrough:
The Chilipepper delivers "instant" hot water, so you don't have to waste gallons of water while waiting for the hot water to arrive.

Inventor:
Dennis Metzger and William Lund, United States

The Story:
Hot Water on Demand

In the late 1980s, Dennis Metzger and William Lund were selling their hot water saving device at trade shows. Known as the Hot Water Saver (HWS), it saved homeowners up to 40% of their water heating costs.

But people just weren't that into energy savings in the 80s. What they wanted was hot water faster. People weren't that interested in conservation – they were after convenience, and they didn't like to wait for hot water.

Then one day as they were on a long drive to their office in Stockton, CA, Lund had a revelation of how to get hot water to the fixture faster – pump it to the fixtures at high velocity, then turn off the pump when the hot water reaches the fixture.

The pair immediately began working on developing their idea. They soon realized they could use the cold water line to return the cooled off hot water, instead of installing a separate return line. By shutting off the pump when a temperature increase was detected, they could avoid getting hot water in the cold line, yet hot water would only be 2-3 seconds away.

But getting their product to market with little or no funds was another challenge. They ended up licensing it to ACT, as well as giving them use of the name "Metlund." The product was named the ACT Metlund D'MAND system.

However, two small-time inventors were no match for the company's lawyers, and a year later they were muscled out of the business.

Unwilling to let their dream die, the pair took up the challenge again a few years later. They were convinced they could come up with a delivery system that would out-perform the Metlund pump and be much less expensive and therefore more available to the mass market.

They developed a new pump and called their product the "Chilipepper." It was smaller, weighed less, was more powerful, and retailed for under $200.

The Chilipepper can be installed under a sink and water is then pumped in a big loop from the water heater, through hot water fixtures around the house.

So you can now stop wasting water while getting the convenience of instant hot water. It also reduces sewage output, as less water flows into the sewer, and it also reduces greenhouse emissions. It costs only about $2 per year to run the Chilipepper.

Visit their website for more information and to order a unit for yourself.

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