If you don’t know what a recirc pump does, I explained it previously.

It is possible to control the timer for your recirc pump (and other devices) by using the following:

• a recirc pump with a 110V wire plug
• Amazon’s Alexa
• a Smart plug like the TP-Link Kasa plug
• a 3rd party service like Stringify

As mentioned in that earlier post, from an energy/cost perspective, the most efficient way to use a recirc pump is to have it run for just a few minutes ONLY before hot water is needed. Any other times it’s left running is wasting energy and costing money. 

But once the pieces are set up, the phrase:

“Alexa, turn on the hot water”

will activate the recirc pump for exactly 5 minutes whenever spoken near an Alexa device (such as an Echo Dot) and then turn the recirc pump off automatically.  There is a huge benefit to setting up a mini-control system like this because the recirc pump is only using electricity and the gas for the hot water is only being called for 5 minutes.

It takes a bit of time to set up the pieces in the home and involves the above components and the homeowner’s smart phone.

Instructions

The step-by step instructions are written up below and assumes a bit of knowledge about how Alexa works.

• Assuming you have Alexa device(s) already set in your home you want to add a new device such as the Kasa Smart plug.

• The first time you use the Kasa plug you want to download the Kasa app to your phone (Google Play or iTunes store) and register it online. The app will ask you to identify the Kasa product you are setting up (Smart Plug icon).  Follow the instructions on the app to register the device on your wifi network.  Once ready, continue to the next step.
• Plug in the Kasa Smart plug to a wall socket (this can be the socket near your recirc pump or just a local wall socket for set up purposes).
• Using the Alexa app on your phone, select Smart Home from the list of Alexa features.
• Select Add Device.  Alexa will search for the Kasa Smart Plug.
• Once found, you want to give it a name like “Kasa Smart Plug ” or “Recirc Pump” if you want to be specific about what it controls.
• Search for the Stringify app on Google Play or iTunes store and download it.
• Create an account and then log in.
• With Stringify running, you now have the ability to create multiple steps using Alexa and the devices it controls.  There is a similar 3rd party app called IFTTT (If This Then That) but that app is limited in how many commands you can string together.  Stringify solves that.
• You can now create a “flow” with Stringify using picture objects supplied on its website. The ones I used were Alexa, TP-Link (On), Timer Button (set to run for 5 minutes) and TP-Link again but now set to Off.  I named the flow “Hot Water”.

Stringify

And here’s what it looks like once that simple flow is created in Stringify:

And here is the actual flow text:

    WHEN I ask Amazon Alexa to run a Flow… (by saying “Alexa, run Hot Water”)

    THEN turn on Kasa Smart Plug (Recirc Pump)

    THEN start my Timer for 5 minutes

    THEN turn off Kasa Smart Plug (Recirc Pump)

• The next step is to make sure both Stringify and the TP Link Kasa skills are Enabled in Alexa and you can do this from the Smart Home Skills section in the Alexa app.
• To run the flow, you have to have both Alexa up and running and be logged into Stringify and the Kasa app as well.  

Execute

When you want to take a shower, run a bath or simply not wait for the water to heat up, you now simply say “Alexa, run Hot Water”.

The recirc pump plugged into the TP-Link Kasa Smart plug will be turned on, it will run for 5 minutes, and then it will turn off again, not wasting any energy thereafter.