Check Valve causing low-to hot water pressure AND other newbie trouble shooting questions.

[Rob-NM]

Apologies if this has been covered- I searched and couldn't find an answer- also first time plumber so please be gentle I am in the process of turning my plumbing system on for the first time and running into troubles: I do not yet have my h20 heater working but have flow in the cold and hot fixtures in the house.

I have a 1600 gallon tank and Burcan well pump with a check valve that runs my plumbing. The pump pressurizes the system and kicks on/off at the correct PSI. My cold water supply lines at the fixtures have great pressure. My hot water lines also HAD great pressure, but now when I open the fixtures the water flow gradually slows to a stop and the pump does not kick on.

I am using an open loop radiant system and think I put the check valve in the wrong spot. My goal was to feed the return water from the radiant system back into the cold water supply line for the H20 heater AND prevent it from going to the cold water fixtures. I had a check valve above the cold water supply return and moved it to be inline with the cold water return- SEE IMAGE- the check valve is on the bottom on the pic.

My questions: Where should the check valve go to prevent the warm return water from the radiant going to the cold water fixtures?

Would the place where I have the valve currently also cause my low to no water pressure in the hot water lines?

Possibly related question: I have an Rheem Retex 18 that is not turning on. I have wired it correctly and confirmed that there is power to the unit, but the unit is not turning on when I press the on button. Am I missing something really stupid here? Probably...

Thanks a ton for the help/advice!

 

[John Gayewski]

What are the mixing valve (?) and prv (?) for?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Rob-NM]

What are the mixing valve (?) and prv (?) for?

I put the PRV in because I thought I needed to reduce the pressure for the radiant system down to 12-15 psi. the mixing valve was just to keep the water going into the system at a steady temp when mixed with the hot water and the returned water from the radiant. The PRV might be unnecessary?