neverman
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So the hot water heater was installed today in new construction. Where I expected to see a "check valve" I instead saw a regular valve. I asked the plumber about this and he made a case that without a recirc pump there wouldn't be any flow due to just gravity (overcoming the spring of a check valve) so a valve is placed in the return line. This valve will be used to "balance" the system.
This was explained to me as I raised my only concern... that being the cold water mixing with my hot water when we opened the shower valve which would quickly lead to yucky shower performance. He said there would be minimal mixing (getting the bottom end of the tank) if it was properly balanced. He also stated that it would require about 2 hours between tweakings of that valve. I'm pretty confident in his opinion and his explanation of why no check valve could/should be used but I figured I'd run it by you guys.
The recirc line travels to the master shower which is at the farthest corner of the house from the water heater, the recirc line then travels up into the actic at the last manifold before the shower, this whole line is insulated and most of it is also covered by actic fill or sandwiched between 2 floors of the house.
I guess what I'm wondering is how happy we'll be with this solution as opposed to a pump fed recirc loop? If he achieves this warm trickle how stable will it remain through the seasons (Pacific NW)? Should I have any other concerns with this type of setup?
Anyway... just looking for thoughts. Thanks in advance.
The Plumber seems to be a very conscientious fellow who has done very nice work and has been a pleasure to work with so I'm not looking to slam him please.
This was explained to me as I raised my only concern... that being the cold water mixing with my hot water when we opened the shower valve which would quickly lead to yucky shower performance. He said there would be minimal mixing (getting the bottom end of the tank) if it was properly balanced. He also stated that it would require about 2 hours between tweakings of that valve. I'm pretty confident in his opinion and his explanation of why no check valve could/should be used but I figured I'd run it by you guys.
The recirc line travels to the master shower which is at the farthest corner of the house from the water heater, the recirc line then travels up into the actic at the last manifold before the shower, this whole line is insulated and most of it is also covered by actic fill or sandwiched between 2 floors of the house.
I guess what I'm wondering is how happy we'll be with this solution as opposed to a pump fed recirc loop? If he achieves this warm trickle how stable will it remain through the seasons (Pacific NW)? Should I have any other concerns with this type of setup?
Anyway... just looking for thoughts. Thanks in advance.
The Plumber seems to be a very conscientious fellow who has done very nice work and has been a pleasure to work with so I'm not looking to slam him please.