Domestic HW Gravity Recirc

Carl PE_2

I was BSing with one of our service guys today about adding a little circ pump and aquastat, and he told me about the method he used at his house..

Run a 1/2" recirc line back from the far end of the HW piping, and tee it into the water heater drain. no pump, no stat, no timer, no nothing. He claims it works great.

Any of you guys ever tried this, or have an opinion? It sure sounds like it'll work..

Wayco Wayne_2

Oh yah!

Seen it many times. Work great. WW

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Unknown

No flowcheck either ?

To stop cold water going up the recirc pipe ?

We have installed quite a few steam boilers in apartment buildings , the old and new boilers had coils for hot water , and every building had a recirc line just like you describe - but with a flowcheck .

Larry Weingarten

to kinda stop backflow

You install a ball valve at the drain port hookup and throttle it most of the way closed. This allows the slow flow of gravity recirc, but when hot water is drawn it does not allow sufficient back-flow to interfere. Or, plumbers used to drill a small hole in the disc of a swing check valve. Air will really kill gravity recirc, so don't give it a place to loiter! Pumped systems have the advantage of controllability, preventing 24 hour heat loss...

Dave Yates (PAH)

From the archives

http://www.contractormag.com/articles/column.cfm?columnid=62

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