Patent ID: 8231064

Claim:
A water control fixture, comprising: a housing having at least four ports, wherein the at least four ports include a hot water inlet port, a cold water inlet port, a fixture discharge port and a dedicated hot water return port; a flow control unit operatively associated with the housing and the at least four ports, wherein the flow control unit fluidly couples the at least four ports in multiple combinations of ports to perform different functions, wherein a first set of the ports is fluidly coupled to perform a first function and a second set of the ports is fluidly coupled to perform a second function, wherein the flow control unit fluidly couples the hot water inlet port, the cold water inlet port, and the fixture discharge port to perform a hot/cold mixing function, and wherein the flow control unit fluidly couples the hot water inlet port and both of the dedicated hot water return port and the cold water inlet port to perform a hot water recirculation function through at least one of the dedicated return port and the cold water inlet port; and a flow restriction member, wherein hot water recirculation flow occurs through the cold water inlet port when the flow restriction member is used, and wherein hot water recirculation flow occurs through the dedicated hot water return port when the flow restriction member is not used.