The Importance of Return Temperatures

We came across this article on return temperatures. It addresses some key issues in regards to domestic hot water balancing. Our new CircuitSolver™ can be a great way to fix, and even eliminate problems with hot water delivery.

The Importance of Return Temperatures

Delivery & Return Temperatures are the two most critical numbers; these are the temperatures available to the residents at the beginning and at the end of the hot water loop. Too hot is unsafe, too low is unacceptable for cleaning or comfort.

Low Return Temperature is commonly ignored because diagnosis can be tedious and it doesn’t seem like a dangerous problem. Wrong.

Do not ignore a Low Return Temperature Warning! A drop in temperature from delivery to return means that:

  1. Households are quietly suffering with low water temperature,
  2. Residents might be scalded by dangerous fluctuations in water temperature, and,
  3. You are wasting fuel through heat loss.

Return Temperature is like a canary in a coal mine: if there is anything wrong with the hot water system it is often the first alarm to go off. If your return temperature chart isn’t in the pink, your boilers are probably in fine order. But, if you’re seeing a lot of pink, it’s time to fix things before your residents start seeing red

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Special thanks to EDC Technologies, Inc. for letting us re-post this.