I'm in the process of designing a hot water recirculation system for our domestic hot water. I need to have a check valve in the feedback pipe so that cold water does not flow into the hot water piping from the cold water feed to the water heater. I'd like to use a valve with the lowest pressure drop in the normal flow direction. Should I use a spring loaded or a flapper valve?

With a swinging gate, a spring check won't open.

why do you care about alot of flow thru that check valve? you need very little flow for recirculation and in many cases a circulator isn't even needed as good old gravity flow will do the job..

I should have explained the system in more detail. The hot water recirculation is being designed to get hot water to the furthest bathroom sink faucet within one minute. The distance from the hot water heater to the sink is about 100 feet. A timer will be used to run the system for about 60 seconds. The timer will be initiated by a pushbutton.

well, just get a brass circulator with a built-in (integral) check valve. they come spring loaded but are specifically designed for the unit..

A spring check valve will fail sooner than a swing. It also is not designed for hot water typically.

SHEPLMBR70, couple of points..
they tell me a spring check is more efficient because the water is flowing over a rounded surface as opposed to pushing a swing gate out of the way.
as to which is more likely to fail in the future, yeah i guess a spring check is more lilely but the jury is still out on that.
BUT, in the instance of failure, an internal flow check mounted inside the circulator outlet is way, way easier to change than a failed swing check.
if it were me.. i would use a brass/bronze circulator with an IFC..

I have never known anyone out here where I am using a spring check in that fashion. But things are different from locale to locale. I agree with an integral check valve

the IFC is a spring check with a very weak spring.

Hi,
I assume an IFC is an integral flow check valve. Can anyone recommend a part number for a bronze head circulator with an IFC?

Thanks to all that responded.



Edited 2 times.