Can I Measure Geothermal Loop Length?
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leaks in a geothermal loop (cc)
Comments (7)My loops are horizontal. So far, so good, with the auto-fill 'fix'. I'm one year out from that installation, and the geo unit is working better than it ever did in the preceding 9-10 years. SR makes a good point - for anyone else considering putting in a geothermal system - to check out any prospective installers. We were new to the area, and all we had to go on at the time was a list of 'authorized' geothermal contractors/installers from our electrical co-op. Just because they were on the 'approved' list, doesn't mean they knew what to do - or would do things correctly, even if they do know. The guy who installed our system is now out of business, and we've come to find out that he more or less went out of business because he had so many lawsuits pending against him with regard to improper installations and system failures. My loops have a leak, and in addition, instead of each unit(2.5 T downstairs, 2T upstairs) ecah having their own loop and pump, they're both hooked up to the same loop & pump unit. Additionally, my upstairs unit blew 4 compressors over an 8 year period, and we finally bit the bullet and just replaced it - and when they pulled the old unit out, they found the installation directions insert booklet sucked up against the grille. I guess it had been there, impeding air flow since day 1, and in all the times the installer and his son(who joined another HVAC operation when his dad went out of business) had been out to work on it, they'd never figured out WHY it kept blowing compressors....See MoreCan I activate GT loop pump on demand?
Comments (7)z, I am already all over this thing. I have sent the Functional tech support people a wiring diagram to ask them if this configuration (which I adapted from one of their application notes) will work. If so, I can use 3 current sensing devices and 1 dry contact closure relay (see picture). The current sening device I am looking at is thge RIBXK420-20 and the dry contact relay is the RIB02BDC. The neat thing about this is that it is self powered - no separate low voltage supply is needed. I am not worried about the delay of the HVAC fans blowing ahead of theloop pump start up. I can tune that delay to as low as 6 seconds if I want. My guess is that a 30 to 60 second delay will work just fine to get the loop fluid moving, and that isn't a long time to wait. If this works - it's easy to implement. It also potentially solves another challenge with a BROAN ERV that I am going to add in the fall. The BROAN unit runs continuously, but I want it to run when the HVAC fan from the main 6 ton unit (that will have the ERV attached) is running so that the HVAC blower can cycle the fresh air from the ERV through the main level and basement. I should be able to use the same current sensing device on that 6 ton HVAC fan that feeds the loop pump to also trigger a seperate RIB relay to energize ERV fan....See Morecan i use mini ducts with geothermal units
Comments (3)Re: spareho Yes you can use high velocity ducts with geothermal. You would need to find an installer that understands both these technologies very well  good luck! Geothermal is a problem because of the ducts? OK, 2nd choice  geothermal. There is no active space conditioning system as flexible as geothermal  period! HereÂs what I suggest looking into. If ducts are such a headache, forget the ducts, consider installing a liquid to water or DX to water geothermal heat pump with a desuperheater. This way you will save money on your domestic hot water and use the full capacity hot or chilled water of the water to water or DX to water GSHP for radiant in-floor heating and/or hydronic low temperature fan coil heat exchangers. This way youÂll have heating AND central A/C  without ducts! YouÂll just have to penetrate the walls and floors to pass 3/4in. pipes to circulate the water. As for the ÂtheaterÂ, that room may have to be zoned and air-conditioned while the rest of the house is heated, depending on what kind of A/V equipment is installed SR...See MoreGeothermal Loop Control - Part II
Comments (17)This morning I caught the system just as it turned on (my ears are now trained to listen for the click of the tstat and the fan coming on.) This time, when the tstat started heat all by itself, the Aux Heat call did not come on. I have a feeling that anytime I try to force the heat on myself, the tstat is seeing a large enough delta between set and actual temp that it is kicking AH on. I will have to watch the operations over the next few days to see if it consistently works without AH. In the mean time, the breaker to the heater pack is off to avoid the toaster. I have decided to send an email to Honeywell tech support on the CPH setting for my tstat. Now that I understand what the CPH setting does, I need to know how the logic is implemented. For example, my tstat setting for Compressor Cycle Rate is set to 3. Does the tstat bleed these 3 cycles per hour (max) uniformly over an hour of time - or does it simply allow 3 on/off cycles in rapid succession, and then no more for the rest of the hour. If the allocation is uniform across an hour, then the Aux heat setting (which is currently 9 CPH) could be adjusted lower to keep Aux Heat from popping on so quickly - like when I increase the tstat setting by 2 degrees. Again - if it is a uniform distrubution of on/off cycles the tstat would permit Aux Heat to come on every 3 minutes with a 9 CPH setting and that is too frequent. So the CPH adjustment may in fact be part of the solution. I have also discovered a nagging issue with my second story heat pump. That unit is actually zoned - where 3 bedrooms each have their own tstat. My guess is that the CPH setting for each tstat is set to the recommended default (3 CPH) which means that there are actually a total of 9 CPH allowed (3 for each tstat). That explains why that unit kept cycling so frequnectly on me last winter. I believe that a CPH reduction is probably warranted in each of those tstats and that would reduce the number of total HVAC cycles upstairs. The downside is that some rooms way have a wider tempertaure swing and then a longer run to get up to the set temp. But I would rather have a reduction in cycles as long as the swings are not too big (which could cause Aux Heat to pop on). Imagine Room 1 calling for heat and getting serviced - then shutting off. Then a few minutes later, Room 2 does the same thing, then Room 3. If I stretch out the ON/OFF times in all rooms, I will increase the probability that heat calls will overlap. I will check on the L line. I believe that my tstat does not use L becasue I get no alarm lights when the compressor locks out - and I would like to have that. There have been cases where the compressor has locked out and the only way I knew it is when it got very cold in the room and I opened up the heat pump cover to see the red light on the contoller....See Morekevin9408
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