Uponor Logic with main manifold system
Hello,
I’m getting ready to redo our entire plumbing in our 1920’s farmhouse retrofit. Its a 2 story house with the HPWH in the basement. Unfortunately the kitchen and master bath (stacked) on the opposite side of the house, but laundry and 2 baths are stacked close to the WH.
I’d like to do the Uponor Logic system with each bath and kitchen on a multiport branch. I’m thinking ill do a main manifold in the basement that has a shut off for each zone of the multiports . Say a 6 port manifold (1 kitchen, 4 bath, 1 laundry). Instead of a huge manifold with separate lines for every fixture.
The master bath is still about 50′ away from the water heater though so am thinking instead just run the hot on a recirc pump with a standard trunk and brunch pass through logic system instead of the main branch manifold system might be better?
Thank you in advance!
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There's a lot to unpack here. What's your goal?
- Lowest standby energy use
- Lowest install cost
- Quickest time to hot water on particular fixtures
Speaking personally, I have some fixtures that have a home run "just because" and in retrospect, they would be better branching off more commonly use fixtures.
On the flip side, my master bathroom has the main recirc loop and I enjoy having instantaneous hot water when I need it.
yes, sorry its a somewhat complicated water system. We've got 2 wells, water filters, tanks, pumps, etc mixed with an old house that has a main bathroom at the furthest possible location haha. Not to mention open floor plan with glulams everywhere that cant be poked full of holes. Dont get me started on the waste lines
Main goal would be to have quick hot water at the furthest locations. I don't care if its instant, just not 1 min plus wait times/down the drain. Less pipe is another goal as well, not really a fan of running a full manifold system with a ton of runs.
I think having the furthest master on a recirc and everything else on truck/branch sounds best to me too. Did you find you needed a smart plug on your recirc pump to save on energy usage or is it really not necessary?
thanks
Unless your glulams are exposed architectural features there's no reason you can't drill a hole for a water pipe.
I don't understand the remote multiports. You are just "shifting" the home runs, but at the end of the day it is still a home run method. Running one of the taps will not prime the other taps with hot water. Each has its own volume displacement before getting hot water.
The best way (when feasible) is one big hot water loop, where each fixture is connected to the same line as the previous fixture in the line. And your circulator is at the end of the line with a temperature sensor to know when to turn off if the water in that part of the loop is already warm enough (because by definition everything before it will be hot as well). The circulator would also have a sensor to know when to turn on, via occupation sensor or a manual switch/button. This will keep all your fixtures primed with hot water when you want them, but not waste too much energy at other parts of the day or night when you are not calling for hot water.
yes, that's true. except wouldn't it still be smaller wait times as the multiport runs are much shorter than what a main mainfold would be. Also, there's less connectors so less possible failure points than trunk/branch.
That's a good idea on the occupation sensor, so those smart plug controllers aren't so great?
I don't think there would be less connections, but your connections would be more grouped together and possibly easier to access with you manifold method. As far as wait times, with the circulator method all taps would be fully primed with hot water, it would be as close to instant hot water as you could possibly be. And I don't have any problem with smart plug controllers, but what mechanism would tell the controller to turn the circulator on and off? You would need a motion detector or manual switch, which would then send the command to the smart outlet to kick on the pump.