Conversion from Copper to PEX Project

[parkericharda]

I'm converting much of my house from Copper to PEX 1/2". Water heater is more central in the home but the water softener is on the far wall (50' apart). To save on pipe, I'm considering keeping the current copper line 3/4" run from the water softener to the water heater, and then send the water heater return to the manifold I purchased (https://www.plumbingmall.com/18-port-1-2-inch-manabloc). That means I would not need the water heater supply noted on the top of that manifold. Do I have to use that, or can I just cap it off, and the cold water supply on the bottom will supply cold, and then my line coming out of the water heater would go directly to the return on the top of the manifold? This effectively bypasses the need of the "water heater supply" coming out of the manifold. It seems like it would make sense that would work, but before I did it, I wanted to be sure. Any thoughts?

 

[TomFOhio]

Do you have a return line going to the bottom of your water heater where the drain valve is? Let us know.

 

[parkericharda]

The water heater has main in/return on top. I contacted the manufacturer and they said it's no problem to cap off the cold send on top and just come into it directly from the water heater. So problem solved I guess.