Do I need dielectric unions for a circulator pump?

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deltasmith

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I'm planning to install a recirculator pump in my domestic hot water system. I have an older Noritz tankless water heater which provides a power tap for the pump. The pump I'm looking at is stainless steel and I will need to install it in a copper supply line. The manufacturer (Aquamotion) only provides stainless steel flange kits. Do I need to install dielectric unions where the stainless joins the copper?
 

deltasmith

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No - flanges will have rubber gasket and stainless bolts

Thanks for the reply. I have the impression that the stainless bolts don't provide electrical insulation, and I didn't see anything in the manufacturer's documents to indicate that there were insulating sleeves and washers.

I did a LOT of reading after I posted this question, and came to recognize that about 80% of people who post on the topic of dielectric unions think they are worse than nothing (and about 20% think they work great, go figure).

I also read (somewhat ambiguous) California plumbing code that indicated that "dielectric fittings" could be used. It was ambiguous on the point of what constitutes a dielectric fitting. I saw that one large municipality in California considers a 6 inch brass nipple to be a dielectric fitting, but I'm currently contemplating "dielectric nipples", which are shorter but have a plastic liner in the nipple. I'm currently leaning toward the latter but would be interested to hear what people's experience has been with either approach. From an electrical safety perspective, I like these alternatives because it keeps the electrical piping all electrically bonded together. What I don't know is which approach would be better at limiting corrosion.
 

Fitter30

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Unless your in a area corrosion is bad, just pipe it with the flanges. Never really had a problem with a dielectic except when taking one apart years down the road when the gasket gets hard then end up replacing the whole union.
 
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