It is helpful for energy efftciency to use distributed pumps instead of valves to regulate hydraulic balance in a district heating system (DHS). A new scheme of distributed pump-system is presented based on performance comparison of hydraulic regime and power saving of single-heat-source dendritic pipeline networks with regulating valves and/or distributed pumps. Supposing that the new scheme was employed in multi-sources looped-pipe network, theoretical analysis and case study were carried out to evaluate off-design performances including hydraulic self-regulation, supply water temperature stability and power-saving potential. The results indicated that the proposed scheme would contribute to minimizing power consumption, retarding water temperature change, and would be convenient to adjust the quality and quantity independently in the looped-pipe heat supply networks.