Recirculating System

[RickG]

I have a 2400sf, single story home in southern California that has two 40gal water heaters, one in the garage serving the adjacent laundry and nearby kitchen, and the other in the middle of the house serving the two full bathrooms that are furthest from the garage. I want to get rid of the interior water heater so I was thinking of putting a recirculating pump/system (with return line from furthest fixture) going off of the garage water heater only. The total length from garage water heater to furthest fixture is approximately 100 feet. The current setup was put in place when the house was built in the 70’s so I was thinking they did this so there wasn’t too long of a wait for hot water. A recirculating system would solve this, but is there possible code or other issues that I am not thinking of that may have forced them to do this? I can’t image it being related to extra capacity as there is plenty of room in the garage to put in any size tank you want.

 

[frodo]

how was your house piped? in the ceiling ? under the floor joists ? or is it a slb..with copper looped under the slab?


what you want to do, is possible, there are a couple of options,,they depend on how its piped.

either a return line or a under counter circ system.

'

easiest, is to run a line from your garage heater,,in the attic, to the old heater

disconnect old heater and tie the new hot to the old hot. then in the fartherest bathroom install a under counter circ pump.


http://waterpumpsz.com/3190-hot-water-under-sink-pump.html




with this configuration, i would tie the plug in under the counter to be hot / on,, when the light was turned on
,,
no since circing water when not needed

 

[RickG]

The interior water heater serves both bathrooms via 1/2" copper through attic while the garage water heater is in-wall/under slab. The setup you describe would certainly be straight forward. I was hoping to keep my cold water cold so I am contemplating a new 3/4" PEX supply line from garage to furthest bathroom and a 1/2" return line

 

[frodo]

your return line. tie it in like this

http://www.grainger.com/product/TACO-Aquastat-4PC96?s_pp=false&picUrl=//static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/4PC96_AS01?$smthumb$

 

[frodo]

where are you going to tie the circ line in at? are you going to cut a wall, or fish it down under a cabinet?

 

[RickG]

Diagram looks good. I was thinking of using the grudos comfort auto pump and I believe it has a built in check valve. I am okay with the auto functions so I was thinking of skipping the aquastat and light swith trigger. The entire circ loop will be in the attic with the return line starting at the branch junction at the furthest bathroom using a 1/2 x 3/4 x 1/2 T fitting.

 

[frodo]

rick,,,,whats a 1/2 x 3/4 x 1/2 tee ? lol....

you mean a 3/4x1/2x1/2?

LOL.....always read the biggest end first...then the other end is 2nd...the third is the one in the middle

 

[havasu]

...always read the biggest end first...then the other end is 2nd...the third is the one in the middle

How do you read a fitting where the biggest end is in the middle?

 

[frodo]

the way i was taught was

the first number is the end, 2nd is da utta end
the middle is the last MF number
go get me a 3/4 1/2 tee

I stood their looking at him....

he said GO BOY,

I said , you want a 34x1/2x what?

He said, damn Boy, I said 3/4 x 1/2 that means its a 3/4x3/4x12

if I say 2 numbers, you know that 2 are the same...

 

[frodo]

rick,,,,whats a 1/2 x 3/4 x 1/2 tee ? lol....

you mean a 3/4x1/2x1/2?

LOL.....always read the biggest END first...then the other end is 2nd...the third is the one in the middle

the biggest END first

 

[frodo]

How do you read a fitting where the biggest end is in the middle?

there is no end in the middle,,,thats the middle !!