By Timothy Allinson, P.E., Popov Engineers, Inc., Irvine, Calif.
Hot Water Circulation
H
ave you ever stood at a sink,
waiting for hot water and are
amazed at how long it takes to
arrive? The hot water at my own kitchen
sink used to take two minutes and twen-
ty seconds to reach its destination. Thats
a long time when you are just standing
there, waiting for the hot water so that
you can wipe your babys messy face
with a warm towel rather than a chilly
one. I became so frustrated that I eventu-
ally added a local electric heater below
the sink (refer to my May 2003 column
in Plumbing Engineer). It is at these
times that one realizes the difference
Page 18/Plumbing Engineer Copyright 2003 TMB Publishing. All Rights Reserved.
between good and bad plumbing design.
Hot water delivery is dictated by
code. Most codes require that hot water
dead-ends not exceed 50 feet without
some form of temperature maintenance.
This is often done with a circulation sys-
tem, but also can be accomplished with
heat tracing cable. The reasons for tem-
perature maintenance are twofold. First
is the practicality of the user not having
to wait too long for hot water, and sec-
ond is for water conservation. A great
deal of water is wasted when you flow a
fixture waiting for hot water. Fifty feet
of three-quarter-inch copper tubing con-
Circle 012 on Reader Service Card
tains 1.14 gallons of water that is wasted
in anticipation of the hot supply.
There are three primary considera-
tions when designing a hot water circula-
tion system, namely piping configura-
tion, circulation pump flow rate and
pump head.
Piping Configuration
The general arrangement of the hot
water circulation system is dictated by
architecture. Along, narrow, single-story
building with fixtures scattered through-
out the floor would probably have a sin-
Continued on page 20
September 2003
Designers Guide
Continued from page 18
gle loop down and back the length of the
building. A tall hotel might have multi-
ple, circulated risers, collected at their
tops with a single return riser. An office
building with typical core mens and
womens toilet rooms might have one
riser feeding the mens lavatories flowing
upward, with an offset at the top of the
building to feed the womens lavatories
Circle 014 on Reader Service Card
Page 20/Plumbing Engineer Copyright 2003 TMB Publishing. All Rights Reserved.
flowing downward and back to the
heater.
There are two key elements in detail-
ing the piping configuration. First, a
building with multiple hot water risers (or
loops) must be provided with a balancing
valve on each loop prior to connecting to
the hot water circulation main. This is
necessary to ensure that each loop will
have the proper amount of water circulat-
ing through it. There are valves sold
specifically for this purpose with cali-
brated markings on the valve handle.
Alternately, a throttling valve, such as a
globe valve, can be used for balancing.
However, a gate valve or ball valve does
not work well for balancing, as they do
not easily control low flow rates.
Second, hot water circulation must not
have inverted traps in the piping. The rea-
son for this is the fact that air is released
from solution at an increasing rate with
temperature. Consequently, hot water
piping tends to become air-bound more
readily than cold water. If a hot water cir-
culation leg becomes air-bound it can
disrupt the flow and prevent circulation.
One means of avoiding air in circulation
piping is to run the circulation loop on the
level below the top floor of plumbing fix-
tures. This allows trapped air to be
released from the fixtures when they are
used. If this approach is not possible,
high points in the circulation loop can be
vented with automatic air vent valves
(AVV).
Pump Flow Rate
The pump in a hot water circulation
system must be capable of moving water
through the system nearly as fast as it
cools down. The rate at which the water
cools is a function of the thickness of
insulation and the temperature differen-
tial. Table 1 indicates standard BTU loss
values for hot water piping with 1" fiber-
glass insulation and a 50-degree temper-
ature differential (120-degree water in a
70-degree environment). These numbers
are fairly standard, but would have to be
modified for accuracy if a different insu-
lation thickness or water temperature
were used.
Table 1
Pipe Size BTUH/ft
1/2" 6
3/4" 7
1" 8
1-1/4" 9
1-1/2" 10
2" 11
2-1/2" 13
3" 15
4" 18
September 2003
 With these BTU loss numbers known,
system losses can be determined by mea-
suring the lengths of piping of various
sizes and multiplying them by the corre-
sponding BTU loss value. For example,
the system in Figure 1 has 500' of three-
quarter-inch piping, 300' of 1" 200' of
11/4" and 400' of 11/2", so the total sys-
tem heat loss rate is (500 x 7) + (300 x 8)
+ (200 x 9) + (400 x 10) or 11,700
BTUH. Next, pump flow rate can be
determined based on the allowable tem-
perature drop. In this example the return
temperature is desired to be no less than
5 degrees less than system temperature.
Pump flow can be obtained from the
equation:
8.33 Q T= BTUH
8.33 x gpm x 60 min/hr x 5 deg. = 11,700
Therefore, the required flow rate is
about 5 gpm for this system. Each riser
would have 1 gpm circulated through it
to maintain temperature. Note that
increasing the temperature differential, if
this is acceptable, can reduce the flow
rate. Also, when measuring the system
piping, branch piping need not be includ-
ed; only the portions of the system that
have circulated water should be included.
Figure 1
Pump Head
Lastly, the pump head needs to be cal-
culated. The pump must be capable of
overcoming the friction through the fur-
thest part of the system. To determine
this, the friction loss associated with the
circulated flow rate through the furthest
riser or loop must be calculated. This cal-
culation can be tedious for a large sys-
Plumbing Engineer Copyright 2003 TMB Publishing. All Rights Reserved.
Table 2
Size gpm loss/100' length Total
3/4" 1 0.46 100 0.46
3/4" 2 1.5 50 0.75
3/4" 3 3.2 50 1.6
3/4" 4 5.1 50 2.6
3/4" 5 7.6 50 3.8
1" 2 0.46 100 0.46
1" 5 2.5 200 5
1-1/4" 3 0.35 200 0.7
1-1/2" 4 0.23 200 0.46
1-1/2" 5 0.42 200 0.84
Total: 16.67
tem. Done properly, it must include fric- tion pump, when the user complaints of
tion losses for each portion of the system no hot water are endless.
where the flow increases due to accumu- Also, be aware that some clients may
lation of each circulated loop. In our have hot water circulation requirements
example, the pressure loss through the that exceed code. I have worked on pro-
furthest loop would look like that which jects where the criteria stated hot water
is presented in Table 2. delivery in 15 seconds rather than the
Therefore, the minimum pump head code-driven 50-foot maximum. For
required is about 17' to circulate through three-quarter-inch piping and a 2.25
the furthest riser (on the left). Once it can gpm faucet, 15 seconds translates to
overcome this friction it will have suffi- about 25' of pipe.
cient pressure to circulate through the Be aware that there is such a thing
other risers. Remember, you do not need called natural circulation. Some older
to include the friction through all of the buildings were designed to take advan-
risers, only the furthest loop. Note that tage of the fact that in a closed loop, hot
friction factors were taken from a stan- water rises and cold water falls. As a
dard friction chart for result, if the hot water piping is gener-
copper pipe. Also note ously sized, the hot water system will
that hot water circula- tend to circulate naturally without a
tion pumps should be of pump. In order to achieve this, the pip-
either bronze or stain- ing must be sized for a maximum fric-
less steel construction. tion loss of about 1' per 100'. In todays
market, the cost of labor and material to
OtherConsiderations achieve this is impractical.
Keep in mind that hot
water circulation is not
as exact a science as the
calculations would About the Author
imply. It is no simple Timothy Allinson is an associate with
Popov Engineers, Inc., in Irvine, Calif.
task to balance a system
Prior to moving to the West Coast he
with exactly 1 gpm spent 15 years in New York City with the
flowing through each firm of Jaros Baum & Bolles. Mr.
riser. For this reason, it Allinson holds a BSME from Tufts
is a good idea to put a University and an MBA from New York
little fat into the circulation pump. As University. He is a professional engineer
illustrated in Table 2, I would probably licensed in both mechanical and fire pro -
double the flow rate of the pump to tection engineering in various states. Mr.
allow for errors in balancing the system. Allinson is the president of the Orange
There is nothing more frustrating than a County Chapter of ASPE, past president
of the New York City Chapter and sits on
hot water circulation system that bal-
the board of the Society of American
ances on paper but not in the field. Military Engineers, Orange County
Nobody will thank you for saving them Post.
1/25th of a horsepower on the circula-
September 2003/Page 21