Hot Water Layout - Something Odd?

I was looking at the circuit from my hot water heater and noticed something that confuses me.

My hot water heater is in the basement and the main pipe from the hot water heater has a smaller branch a couple of feet from the heater. This smaller pipe then splits. One split re-enters the main hot water pipe near the bath room in the apartment above the garage. The other split re-enters the main hot water pipe near the master bath in the house.

What is the purpose of these smaller branches that return into the main hot water line near their termination? I have never seen this before and would have thought it was not needed.

Someone apparently did this to speed the arrival of warm water at the fixture. The main pipe has to flush out a greater volume of cold water than the smaller pipe before the water gets from the tank to the fixture. A recirculation system would be a better solution if it were desired.

That makes sense. Thanks for the response!

pipe

IF that small line is someone's half-hearted attempt at getting faster water, AND the small line is reconnected to the main line, then it is completely INEFFECTIVE, because there is no way to control which line is supplying the water, and since the smaller one would normally have greater flow resistance, the majority of the flow would still take place through the larger line. If could also be an amateur's attempt at creating a recirculation line, but without seeing the line and how it is connected we cannot give a valid assessment of what its purpose is/was.