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Recirc or storage tank?

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GroundUp
GroundUp Member Posts: 2,491

This pertains to my personal home, being built in the spring. All heat is to be hydronic and I'm planning to employ a reverse indirect for both buffer and domestic usage as there are a few micro zones as well as wood, gas, and electric boilers. This is a slab-on grade home and the mechanical room is 50 feet away from the master. The master shower (and occasional bath) will be the highest DHW load in the house while the master sink or adjacent guest bathroom seldom uses any hot water. Laundry is also on that end with a similar distance but water temp is of lesser importance for those first 30 seconds. I'm toying with the idea of a small electric point-of-use tank for both sinks (cold inlet fed from the hot line, if usage goes past the tank capacity), and putting a recirc pump on the 3/4" line feeding the showers/tubs with a push-button timed switch to bring it on only before bathing for 1 minute to avoid wasteful recirculation. Does it pay to go to a larger storage tank with a recirc on a temp sensor, or even a second indirect since I'm running large diameter hydronic piping over there anyway (4 zones on this end so one main w/ zone valves makes more sense to me than home runs back to ZV in the mechanical room for each one)? I don't generally play with domestic plumbing so I'm not sure what the proper channel might be for something like this. Our current setup uses the switch/recirc approach for the master shower and it works pretty well but it's only half as far and uses a 1/2" PEX home run system which I would like to avoid in the new house as I prefer a copper main with branches to each fixture. Insight would be appreciated, thank you!

Comments

  • Larry Weingarten
    Larry Weingarten Member Posts: 4,049

    Hi, not sure I'm answering the question, but here goes 🤠 I'd use demand controlled recirc, but keep the recirc loop at 3/4". Use a pump big enough to prime it with hot water quickly. Run this line no more than ten feet from all points of use. Use small branches off the main, like 3/8" where you can… which should be most everything but any tubs. This arrangement gives quick hot water with minimal energy or water waste.

    Yours, Larry

  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 27,147

    I did see the new Grundfos Alpha recirc pump at AHR, it has a lot of features built in to minimize run time, and customization

    Temperature control, timer, and ability to call it on with the app

    I have a crossover valve on mine, but running constantly warms my solar preheat tank, so I am trying one of the new recirc Alphas

    IMG_1952.jpeg
    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
  • GroundUp
    GroundUp Member Posts: 2,491

    Nobody? Surprising considering the wealth of knowledge here