Zone Valves vs. Zone Circulators

[@sv650bighammer]

Is it odd that my system has both zone valves and circulator pumps?

[@TacoHVACtv]

Hi Pete, I have the very same thing in my house, you can have your zoning with zone valves as well as circulators. However what is not typical is that on a zone, you should need a zone valve AND a circulator. I have seen installations like this and it installed in this manner to prevent gravity hot water flow in a zone when that zone was not calling for heat. The zone valve acted as a positive shut off. I would have installed a check valve on the system after the zone circulator. If you have further questions, please don't hesitate to contact our Technical Services Team at Taco.

[@iosebbegiashvili8145]

Very intresting.I wish,all maths was in metric.

[@dwaynesykes694]

If you're fine feeding the same water temp to all your low-temperature loops (e.g. radiant floor heat), set-it-and-forget-it mixing valves are the way to go. Slap a dumb circulator in there with some zone valves and you're off to the races. Budget permitting, there's the dream: independent digitally controlled injection pumps per-zone (or group of zones). Honestly, as cheap as circulators are these days it's not _that_ cost prohibitive, and is the design I'm leaning towards for my dream house in a few years. Last I checked, a digitally controlled circulator is cheaper than an electronic mixing valve. Is it overkill given the thermal mass of a concrete slab? Almost certainly. Does it mean I can go wild with building unnecessary software solutions in search of perfectly even heat with zero "bang-bang" control logic? Yes.

[@TacoHVACtv]

There are so many ways to control a hydronic system and as long as the end result is achieved, go for it!