I'm going to re-plumb my house. It's a 3 bed, 2 bath house. All the plumbing is on the main level, and the basement is partially finished. I'm renovating down in the basement and decided while I was doing drywall work, I might as well cut in to the ceiling and replace the polybutylene pipes with PEX. I got 2 quotes from plumbers and decided I'd be better off to do it myself. I'm very handy and work at a building supply store so I can get a great price on materials. I'm also planning on adding a second shower head in the Master bath when I renovate the bathroom next year.
I was wanting to look at adding in a recirc pump for the hot water. Since I am in the space between the floors, I would do a dedicated hot water return. The hot water heater is in the basement. Let's say the 2 shower heads are approx 10 ft above the tank (if that matters). I'm on a well with a pressure tank and a 40/60 pressure switch.
My questions are this:
With my current layout, should I plumb the return line as 2 different zones? What parts am I going to need to do this right (including pump size recommendations).
Best Answer
Here is what I did in my house. I have a ranch style house with bathrooms at both ends of the house. I cut the copper tubing, as close as convenient to the end of each run, and added a tee, a ball valve and a check valve and ran a 1/2" copper return line back towards the water heater. Near the hot water heater, I added a 3/4"X1/2"X1/2" tee to connect the 2 lines together and continued the 3/4" line back to the tank. I removed the drain valve from the bottom of the water heater and added brass nipples and a brass tee, connected the return line and reinstalled the drain valve. In the 3/4" return line I installed the smallest circulating Bronze pump I could buy (B&G model NBF-8S/LW 103257LF .38 amps 39 watts) I wired the pump with a short electric cord with a molded plug. I plug the pump cord into a small "plug-in" timer that I can set to run as needed. You can turn the pump on/off during the day just to keep hot water present near the faucets or just leave the pump on all day and off at night. Remember the pump must be stainless steel or bronze to resist corrosion from the domestic water. My pump has run for 20 years and counting. My longest wait for hot water is 4-5 seconds.