Sid Cohn, 10 Bayswater Place, has a suggestion for FALCONBRIDGE TOWNHOUSE OWNERS whose hot water tanks are far from the kitchen.

Some folks have complained to him about the fact that they must wait minutes for hot water at their kitchen sinks.  In all these cases, the units are built with main floors constructed of concrete slabs on-grade.  A simple and relatively inexpensive solution to this involves the installation of a small (6"x3"x3") pump including timing device timer atop or beside the hot water tank and the installation of a valve w/ thermostat connecting the hot and cold water at the tap furthest from the HW tank.   Info on the circulator can be found/seen in a GOOGLE search as follows:

"Grundfos UP15-10SU7P/TLC"  under  (Grundfos water recirculation pumps)  I found the current retail price from Plumbersurplus.com and Amazon.com to be $270.38. (Dave Suwala)

Basically, the timer is set to ON from before you arise and to OFF at bed-time and the furthest water tap from the tank is the kitchen sink. The thermostat-valve under the sink controls water circulation when the pump at the tank is ON.  When the temperature of the hot water in the line under the sink gets below a tepid temperature, the valve under the sink opens and permits hot water to flow until the temperature of the water rises.

THE BOTTOM LINE  :
When the pump at the tank is ON:
(1) You turn on the hot water tap: the water  is tepid and becomes hot at the kitchen sink within about 30 seconds and sooner at all other HW taps.
(2) When you turn on the cold water, it is tepid for about 10 seconds and then cools quickly.
(3) The pump is small, run sporadically, and consumes a little bit of electric energy.
(4) Because the cold water doesn't run for a couple minutes before getting hot, you save a bit on your water bill.
When the circulation pump is set to OFF water temperatures remain as they are currently.
 

Costs:  I purchased the pump from the Distributor at an Architect¹s discount for $138 and a friend (not a plumber) installed it for free at our house in Little Washington..  We ran into some problems and, of course, he had to explain everything to me and the job took a bit under 2 hours.  I suspect, a good plumber would get it done in an hour if there are no complications.  All of this requires a 110V electric outlet near the HW tank into which you can plug the pump wire.

MY WIFE  IS  DELIGHTED !
Call or email me (489-6624. . . sidcohn@psu.edu) if you are interested and have questions.