Control circulation pump via radio or Circon module?

Hello everyone,

the eternally tedious question, certainly.

In my single-family house, 3 floors, unfortunately a circulation system was installed.
It runs once a day timed via the condensing boiler.

If I now need hot water in the bathroom outside of this time and especially in the kitchen, it feels like it takes forever until hot water comes out of the tap. It annoys me a lot, and we don’t have a daily recurring time pattern here either.

Now the question is how to optimize it?

My dad (electrician) said we should decouple the pump from the boiler and install radio sockets and radio switches (in bathrooms and kitchen).

I have seen that the company CIRCON also has an intelligent version of a socket in their program.

It also works via FritzBox, but I don’t like the switches there.

Now the question is: are there disadvantages between radio switches (e.g. DEWENWILS radio sockets) or the CIRCON version?

The switches seem cheaper overall for 4 tapping points, you just always have to press them... the CIRCON system is supposed to offer a certain intelligence in its actual function.

Can someone give me some tips based on experience?

Many thanks
Micha

(...)
If I now need warm water outside of the scheduled time in the bathroom and especially in the kitchen, it feels like it takes forever for warm water to come from the tap. It really annoys me, and we also don't have a daily recurring time pattern here.
(...)

The fundamental law of automation is... so to speak... to map "regularly or predictably recurring processes"... loosely according to me on 09/24/2023...

Every household has a certain routine, and it is important to recognize it and then optimize the circulation system accordingly.
Of course, you will never achieve maximum efficiency, that is clear. But it's primarily about comfort, isn't it?
In terms of efficiency, a circulation system is basically nonsense because water is constantly being pumped that no one needs.

And... that is a side effect of purely time-controlled automation... if you want to do something outside the routine, it takes longer than without automation. However, the energy savings are usually more than worth it... every kWh of electricity easily saves 2-3 kWh of lignite including mining, etc.

You have a circulation and cold water, then definitely something is wrong, or you wanted to save so that the circulation does not empty your buffer which is also good. With active circulation in our case 2-3 times a day. Without circulation only once a day with a 300 liter buffer and 4 people. Are all pipes insulated? With us, even without circulation warm water comes out.

So you have to weigh it up, because a wireless button doesn't help you either, it still takes time until the warm water arrives.. or you waste time.

Especially with a condensing boiler, I would reduce the circulation pump to a minimal performance and keep it running, with a timer set on intervals, for example running every 3 hours for 30 minutes.

I have installed 3 switches in my place, in 2 bathrooms and in the kitchen. Actually, only the one in the kitchen is used. When activated, the circulation pump runs for about 6-7 minutes. Alternatively, there was a flow switch with a run-on timer back then. That seems to me to be the simplest solution for you.

So you have to weigh it up, because a radio button doesn’t help you either, it takes time until the hot water arrives.. or you waste time

We have been doing this for almost 20 years and without wasting time.
There is almost no situation where I don’t know beforehand that I will need hot water in a few minutes.
Even when I come home sweaty from sports, the first thing I do is go to the switch and by the time I have taken off my clothes, hot water is available.
And since the circulation pump only runs for a few minutes anyway, you can also choose a more powerful model.

I once ordered a wireless push button. I will check if the range from the basement to the attic is sufficient. Then I will deal with it more intensively. But I actually find the solution quite okay.

Saving the pump's energy is not my goal. But the more often the circulation runs, the sooner the 100L boiler storage loses its heat, which annoys me. I would like to make it more efficient.