PEX Manabloc 30 ft from water heater

[jay surfs]

Renovating 50 yo house. Second floor is gutted, most pipes are now accessible in the floor.

My water heater closet is about 2ft square. Clearly too small for a pex manabloc. So can I mount a pex manabloc in the garage 30ft away from the water heater while useing a recirculating pump to prevent wasting water in the hot line?

 

[Reach4]

Manablock on the ceiling?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[jay surfs]

Manablock on the ceiling?

Ceiling of the WH closet? Not enough room in there.

 

[Phog]

Hi jay surfs, you would have larger standby losses in this configuration. But it will work. I think Reach might have been suggesting to put the manifolds up inside the ceiling (between the joists) just outside the water heater closet. You would have to install an access panel there, obviously.

 

[Jadnashua]

If the water has to go to the garage 30' then back again to most fixtures, that's a lot of pipe to insulate, and insulation isn't perfect...it will eat up some power.

My preference would be to use a larger diameter block (but much fewer outlets) close to the WH, run a main line towards the areas of use from it, then use a second, smaller one to branch out to the desired fixtures unless they are all in the same direction. You could run a return line for recirculation.

WIthout a better idea of the overall layout of end users in the home, it's hard to make a good recommendation.