HW Recirc - Three Questions

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Mculik5

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Remodeling a bathroom in my house. Our water heater is centrally located in the basement, and this bathroom is far from the water heater laterally and up two stories. As you can imagine, it takes a long time for HW to reach the faucets.

I'm doing the supply plumbing now and would like to add a thermal bypass valve like this one and the associated pump near the HWH in the basement, obviously - https://www.supplyhouse.com/Grundfos-595926-Comfort-Valve, https://www.supplyhouse.com/Grundfo...-115V-Pump-w-Auto-Adapt-Line-Cord-1-1-4-Union

Here are my questions:

1. Does anyone make a thermostatically controlled, solenoid actuated version of this valve?

2. Regardless of the valve type used, my understanding is that once hot water reaches the valve, the bypass closes. If this happens when the sink/shower isn't being used, does the pump shut off automatically at a certain pressure or does it bypass back into the HWH?

3. The instructions talk about placing the valve at the furthest fixture, but in a branched setup like mine, it seems logical that I could plumb a thermal bypass valve into any faucet/shower and hot water would be supplied to any/all of them any time one or more bypasses is open and the pump is running. Is this correct?

Thanks!
 

John Gayewski

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3. No it's not logical. If you have a bypass at sink right next to the water heater why do you think the water would make a loop farther away, and how would it do this?

The reverse is true, if you go to the farthest faucet then the water takes the full trip and the other branches on the way to the farthest line would get hot water.

2. The manufacturer claims running the pump with no path is fine for the pump. They slow down when they sense increased head and shut off in a short time.

1. An aqua stat could be the on off switch for it. Not sure what packaged systems are available.
 

Mculik5

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@John Gayewski - Thanks!

Good clarification on #3. I shouldn't have said "any." And "branch" probably isn't the best word for my system, either.

"Hub and spoke" is probably more appropriate, meaning my HWH is in the middle of the house, and my main consumers of hot water are two bathrooms directly above/below each other on one side of the house, and the kitchen and master bath above/below each other on the other side of the house. The central location is now dumb because the hot water heater is electric and could be placed anywhere. However, I believe it was originally done the way it is because the original HWH was probably oil-fired like the furnace (which is right next to it) and needed to be near the flue.

Anyway, what I should have been more clear about is I think I can put one of these bypass valves on each side of the house on the second floor, and that should cover all fixtures on that side of the house.

Or, to say it differently, even if my second floor kids' bathroom is technically the furthest from the water heater, putting one valve there isn't going to do anything for the kitchen and master bath on the complete opposite side of the house.

Does that make more sense? Thanks!
 

John Gayewski

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Yeah you should be able to put a crossover valve anywhere you want and control the pump however you want either temp or hot button or light fixture.
 
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