BDrivenByDemons
Member
I have a 2400 sqft ranch with a full basement. I've been kicking around the idea of putting some radiant pex loops under the bathrooms cause the tile gets so cold. I'm also kind of an efficiency weirdo and have been trying to come up with a way to minimize the amount of pumps and loops I would need. I know I can zone and valve but that adds to cost/design. So I had an idea...
I also wanted to set up a hot water circulator loop since many faucets are far from the heaters and it takes a while to get cold water. I'm thinking I could make one big 3/4" loop that would circulate constantly for instant hot water at the faucets. Then where I need heat in the winter I could tee a parallel pex loop into that big loop using some kind of actuated diverter valve. The main loop would always be pumping hot water. I get a call for heat at one zone and the valve would redirect flow through my small pex loop till heat was satisfied then go back to the main loop. Only one pump needed for two purposes. Any thoughts? I know I'd need to use bigger pex since fixtures may call for water during a heat cycle and I'd want good flow but so what? I'd also need some way to periodically switch loops for a short time in the summer to prevent stagnation but I could figure that out with some cheap timers.
Looking forward to comments as I feel like this could work really nicely and with a minimum of equipment.
I also wanted to set up a hot water circulator loop since many faucets are far from the heaters and it takes a while to get cold water. I'm thinking I could make one big 3/4" loop that would circulate constantly for instant hot water at the faucets. Then where I need heat in the winter I could tee a parallel pex loop into that big loop using some kind of actuated diverter valve. The main loop would always be pumping hot water. I get a call for heat at one zone and the valve would redirect flow through my small pex loop till heat was satisfied then go back to the main loop. Only one pump needed for two purposes. Any thoughts? I know I'd need to use bigger pex since fixtures may call for water during a heat cycle and I'd want good flow but so what? I'd also need some way to periodically switch loops for a short time in the summer to prevent stagnation but I could figure that out with some cheap timers.
Looking forward to comments as I feel like this could work really nicely and with a minimum of equipment.