Hot Water Rescurculation - Multiple Branches

[thevictors51]

Hi,

I am trying to figure out a design for a hot water recirculation system with a dedicated return line.

Below is a rough drawing of my layout. The farthest sink from my water heater is the kitchen sink.

The issue is there are three branches for my house.

What I am looking to achieve is to have hot water ASAP at the Kitchen sink, Basement Bathroom and Master Shower. I know the mater bath would still be cold but since its on the same branch as the sink, then it should take less time to warm up.

So my initial thought it to tap the return line into the kitchen sink and Master Shower hot water lines.

The issues I am trying to get my head around is how do I connect them together to make sure they perform as desired?

I made an attempt below (Green is the dedicated return line)

I have a few questions;

1) Is my idea right or at least on the correct path? Any advice would be appreciated
2) Do I need a dedicated circuit for the recirculation pump?
3) If I need pressure balancing valves...how do I set those correctly?
4) Do I need an expansion tank? I am on a well water system with no check valves on the inlet
5) Is there anything else I am missing?
6) Is there any advantage or disadvantage to connecting to the cold water inlet before the tank? Or is bottom of the tank preferred? Any additional hardware required?

Thank you for your help.

 

[thevictors51]

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Martin Cooney]

Any help would be greatly appreciated

My house has similar multiple water circuits. I put APCOM BPV Aqua-Flash Bypass Pressure Relief Valves at last fixture on each circuit. The disadvantage is that your cold water line becomes the return line to your hot water heater meaning your cold water becomes tepid or in some cases warm. For this to work you must also install a recirculating pump, which I believe you intend to do.
Using these bypass valves makes the dedicated recirculating lines unnecessary.

 

[J F]

I think ideally, each loop will need its own pump if you want to ensure that when the pump starts, the water does indeed recirculate through the intended loop at a sufficient rate. Two parallel loops coming together at one pump will inevitably result in one loop flowing faster than the other. You could install restriction valves (as you have shown?) to coerce the loops to flow at reasonably similar rates, such that one pump is sufficient; I'm not sure how well this works or finicky it may be to tune.

Aside: Assuming your diagram is reasonably to scale re. pipe lengths... consider maybe moving the tees for both Guest Bath fixtures right up to the tap, so there's a send & return for these too? Although that would increase path length (and labour), it would put those fixtures directly on the loops. If you can do the same for the Master Bath Sinks, you can then install a third return loop from Master Bathtub, and then the whole system (excluding Washer) is served with recirculated hot water.

...BTW, why is there a "Basement Guest Bath" coloured blue -- the colour your legend indicates is for the Main Floor? I'm confused.

 

[J F]

P.S.

Does something like this work for your needs? Is this feasible? (This puts everything on recirc, incl. the Washer)