Ashp hot water return

[Jvh2012]

Hoping someone can help. We had an ashp fitted via a local company but our contractor who built

tje house did all the plumbing. The local company came out to do the service last week and mentioned there is no hot water return to the pump and that it can’t be retrofitted. They said the plumbing wasn’t up

to scratch but we can’t go back to contractor as we fell

out towards the end of the project, how important is this return and what impact will it have if it’s not there please? 

[joth]

I'd suggest asking the service company directly what the impact is. The info you posted here isn't enough to comment on, and as you paid them you might as well get support directly from them rather than play a game of telephone here.

It could be a DHW secondary return pipe, a primary or secondary zone circulation return pipe, or something else they're on about, and the impact is very different depending what it is that's missing.

 

Edited June 23, 2023 by joth

[JohnMo]

As @joth says we need a bit more info. Anything can be retrofitted, just matter how much hassle it is.

 

what pump?

anything specific that's not up to scratch?

any photographs of what he was talking about?

[Jvh2012]

Ok. So I think the pipe should have been coming back into the bottom of the hot water tank? There’s like an attachment for a pipe there but no pipe running to it if that makes sense 

[Nickfromwales]

49 minutes ago, Jvh2012 said:

Ok. So I think the pipe should have been coming back into the bottom of the hot water tank? There’s like an attachment for a pipe there but no pipe running to it if that makes sense 

Ok so that is for a hot return arrangement. This is where a pump circulates the hot water from your cylinder, past all the hot outlets, and back again thus leaving you with near zero delay getting premium temp hot water out of any outlet. 
Most cylinders come with a tapping for the HRC (hot return circuit) to connect to, but not all homes are plumbed with a secondary return. 
If your ASHP guys are raising this, then they should have been more useful eg at least attempt to give you a comprehensive explanation! 
You may not have any plumbing for an HRC, so there may not be an issue. If they can see a pipe marked HRC which is capped off and needing connecting and a pump adding then this is half a days work to complete. 
 

We need a lot more info to be able to help you.  

[SteamyTea]

If it is for a recirculating DHW system, but you feel that what you have is fine, save the cash, and maybe look for a better communicating plumber.

[ReedRichards]

6 hours ago, Jvh2012 said:

there is no hot water return to the pump

If you have a pump but nowhere for it to pump to then turn it off (if it isn't off already).   

[Nickfromwales]

I think a couple of pics would help. 

[ReedRichards]

I have a hot water recirculation loop because I live in a bungalow and there are long pipe runs from the hot water cylinder in the centre of the bungalow to the bathrooms at one end and the kitchen at the other end.  It's a bit of a luxury because the hot water in the pipes will lose heat no matter how well you insulate them.  I run my recirculation pump for just 5 minutes every hour which means that the water out of the hot taps is immediately tepid at worst.  To have a recirculation loop you need a tank of stored hot water.  It makes no difference whatsoever how that hot water is heated so, if this is your issue, mention of an ASHP in the title is a complete red herring.

 

To have a hot water recirculation loop you need both flow and return pipes for the hot water and a pump to circulate the hot water around the loop.  It has to be a special pump that is WRAS certified for use with potable water.  If your plumber did not install the return pipes then a retrofit would be very awkward.  However the only adverse consequence is that you may face a long wait and have to run off a lot of cold water before your hot taps run hot.