blitziger
New Member
I am currently living in my finished basement while we are renovating the upper floors. I just passed rough-in inspection for the upstairs baths and kitchen, and I mentioned to the inspector that we were sometimes running out of hot water for our shower when the basement slab hydronic heating had been running for any extended time. I said we would be installing a thermal mixing valve so that we could turn up the temperature of the water heater and that we would also be installing a hot water fixture recirculation pump for the basement and a separate pump for the upper floors (both systems have each been plumbed in series with a return line at the farthest fixture).
The inspector told me he had been a plumber for 20 years before he became a City inspector and very generously gave some advice. He said that we should consider upgrading our water heater elements to a 180 degree type. He also said we needed to install the recirculation line with a bypass line back to our cold water line to help guarantee the system would not still allow scalding water to enter the pipes due to cold water stagnation or something to that effect. He attempted to describe where all this should occur, but I did not comprehend what he was saying. He ended by saying that code does not require a tempering valve but we should certainly install one.
I did an internet search on mixing valve performance problems and all I could find was this video by Caleffi on YouTube called “Installing Thermostatic Mixing Valves & Recirculating Pumps in Plumbing Systems”
.
My questions are these:
The inspector told me he had been a plumber for 20 years before he became a City inspector and very generously gave some advice. He said that we should consider upgrading our water heater elements to a 180 degree type. He also said we needed to install the recirculation line with a bypass line back to our cold water line to help guarantee the system would not still allow scalding water to enter the pipes due to cold water stagnation or something to that effect. He attempted to describe where all this should occur, but I did not comprehend what he was saying. He ended by saying that code does not require a tempering valve but we should certainly install one.
I did an internet search on mixing valve performance problems and all I could find was this video by Caleffi on YouTube called “Installing Thermostatic Mixing Valves & Recirculating Pumps in Plumbing Systems”
My questions are these:
- I’ve attached a diagram showing my best interpretation of the Caleffi engineer’s recommendations, and I'm hoping someone can comment on whether I’ve designed it correctly? One complication I see is that I have two separate recirculation systems, and I’m not sure whether they will adversely affect each other’s performance.
- We currently have a Reliance 1212 55 gallon electric water heater – is it safe to upgrade the heating element in this unit?
- Is there a better (and possibly cheaper) motion activated recirculating pump than the Taco 006-CT pump paired with Taco’s 554-4 motion sensor? I liked the fact that the pump could be set to turn itself off when the return water reached the set temperature.
Last edited by a moderator: