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Recirc pumps

RayH
RayH Member Posts: 101
in Water Quality
I installed a 20" Blue whole house filter along with a Heat Pump HWH. Everything was working great but hot water was still taking forever to reach the bathroom on the other side of the home. I installed a HotLink Plus-e recirc pump and had hot water fast. After the system was installed is when issues started with no cold water at the bathroom lav sink where the cross over and valve were installed. Cold water at the kitchen sink would start out cold, then go hot. Turning on the hot side, it would be cold initially, then warm water from both sides. Called tech support twice. They said to turn up the water temp on the HWH because the valve might be sticking. Already had 120* at the faucet prior. This did nothing. The brochure said the valve under the sink may be bad. It was replaced with no change. It is a sealed valve with no adjustment. I thought about placing the valve in an ice water bowl and then into very hot water to encourage opening and closing. Any ideas guys ???

Comments

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,878
    Somewhere in the house -- probably in the bathroom -- you have a cross connection hot to cold. A sticking mixing valve or tempering valve. A shower mixing valve left open and the shower turned off elsewhere. etc. ...
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    RayH
  • Alan (California Radiant) Forbes
    Alan (California Radiant) Forbes Member Posts: 4,215
    Remove the crossover valve and reconnect the sink to normal. If the problem goes away, it's the crossover valve.
    8.33 lbs./gal. x 60 min./hr. x 20°ΔT = 10,000 BTU's/hour

    Two btu per sq ft for degree difference for a slab
    RayH
  • RayH
    RayH Member Posts: 101
    Alan, I know you're right. Before the hot water just took too long. Can't keep replacing valves. Taco support is not helpful. How do I fix it ?
    donaldvs
  • pecmsg
    pecmsg Member Posts: 5,298
    RayH said:

    Alan, I know you're right. Before the hot water just took too long. Can't keep replacing valves. Taco support is not helpful. How do I fix it ?

    Doesn't sound like its an issue with TACO.
  • Zman
    Zman Member Posts: 7,611
    What you are experiencing is normal to some extent. That system keeps the hot pipe hot by allowing a little bit of hot water to return through the cold pipe.
    If you run the cold for a while does it get cold eventually?
    "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough"
    Albert Einstein
  • RayH
    RayH Member Posts: 101
    Removing the valve I'm back to plenty of cold water and hot takes forever. I can't figure it out
  • RayH
    RayH Member Posts: 101
    At the lav sink where the valve is installed the cold supply will only go to warm at best
  • Alan (California Radiant) Forbes
    Alan (California Radiant) Forbes Member Posts: 4,215
    I had a similar situation a few years ago when I installed a Metlund recirculation pump system where the pump is under the sink. You push a button on the counter and the pump turns on, pumping cooled water from the hot side into the cold side and then stops when hot water arrives.

    When the pump was off, hot water would migrate into the cold water line and you would have to run the cold water a long time before it got properly cold. Metlund postulated that the pressure drop in the hot water line was less than the pressure drop in the cold water line and hot water would migrate and dilute the cold water.

    Yes, there was a check valve in the Metlund system. I think I even added another check valve. It didn't change.

    This was in a freshly remodeled house in San Francisco and the wealthy owner had paid a lot of money to a hack GC; there were a lot of problems. I bring it up because there could have been something else in the domestic water system that was opening the check valve and causing the hot and cold to mix.
    8.33 lbs./gal. x 60 min./hr. x 20°ΔT = 10,000 BTU's/hour

    Two btu per sq ft for degree difference for a slab
  • Larry Weingarten
    Larry Weingarten Member Posts: 3,599
    Hello @RayH , Following on what Alan said, (and others have hinted at) I'd try testing for a cross connection. Just turn off the cold supply to the water heater and open a hot tap. If it keeps running for more than a few seconds with any force, cold is getting into the hot side.

    Yours, Larry
  • Zman
    Zman Member Posts: 7,611
    I had the same system in my house and turned it off because the cold water was always luke warm. By design, it warms up the cold line. Does the cold water get cold if you run it for a few minutes?
    "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough"
    Albert Einstein
  • RayH
    RayH Member Posts: 101
    I installed a Taco HotLink Plus. The cold water will only get luke warm
  • RayH
    RayH Member Posts: 101
    I get 120* water at the faucet on the hot side. The cold is still luke warm. I took the valve assembly out and ran boiling water over it. Blowing thru the hot line it does close. Then putting it in a bowl of ice water it opens. Very poor design in my opinion. Valve should be adjustable.

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