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Author:
jkuehn (IL)
I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out what is happening with my hot water returns. Basically, I have the heater in the basement, one branch going up to the second story shower, and another branch running through the basement horizontally to the 1st floor kitchen. The upstairs return line stays hot, while the 1st floor kitchen branch does not. What do I need to do to get both returns functioning? Thanks in advance for the help!
Here is a poorly drawn diagram [imgur.com]:
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Author:
North Carolina Plumber (NC)
I would put a throttle valve on the return from upstairs. You can then limit the flow and balance the returns.
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Author:
packy (MA)
i'm very supprised that it works at all.
putting the return into the cold at the top of the heater is not a good location for it.
it should tie into the drain valve at the bottom of the tank.
anyway, as suggested, you need to slow down the circulation to the loop that works. even then i'm not so sure it will work.
you can try to remove about 2 feet of insulation from the bottom of the return where it ties into the cold pipe. this will cool the return water at the bottom and the circulation will work better because of the larger temperature differences..
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Author:
hj (AZ)
The ideal thing would be a "three way valve" instead of the tee so you modulate BOTH flows.
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Author:
jkuehn (IL)
Thanks for the quick replies! Regulating the flow from the working one makes sense to me. How involved would this be? The tee runs is quite accessible, though overhead. I'm fairly handy, but have never cut or soldered copper pipe before. Also, I neglected to mention that the pipes are not insulated. While making this change would it be prudent to move the location where the return feeds back into the heater?
Edited 1 times.
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Author:
packy (MA)
as i said above.. i don't understand how the circulation works when the return comes back to the cold supply at the top of the tank. the temperature of the hot pipe and the cold pipe will be the same at the top of the tank. the cold will cool when hot water is used but the majority of the time there will be no temperature differential to cause convection.
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Author:
North Carolina Plumber (NC)
I realize there is not a pump drawn in the diagram, but is there a pump on the return line ?
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Author:
jkuehn (IL)
There is no circulation pump. I believe it is designed to work with convection as mentioned by the previous poster.
As far as the return location I see this thread that suggests some ambiguity as to whether to bring it back to the cold supply or the drain. [www.plbg.com]
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Author:
jkuehn (IL)
Got a Sharkbite ball valve and installed it this morning. So far I've just shut off the second floor return and the main floor return seems to be working now. Thanks for the help! I'll get around to balancing it later today.
Edited 1 times.
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