Maintenance in Eastern PEI

[abgreig]

Hi All -

I've just had a Nordic 'R' series open field system installed in my Murray River home and am wondering about who might be available locally to do annual check-ups and the like. The installer is located quite a distance from us and I'd like to find someone closer for general maintenance.

Thanks,
Brian

[troymacken]

Hello Brian,

I live in PEI also and have been investigating installing a heat pump. Did you install yours in a new home or did you replace an existing heating system.

Thanks
Troy

[abgreig]

Hi Troy -

It was a retrofit to a 12 year-old house with oil heat. We're quite happy with the results despite the initial costs. Where on the Island are you?

Best Regards,
Brian

[troymacken]

I am in West Covehead. Who was the installer?

[abgreig]

Hi Troy -

I tried to send this by PM as its slightly off-topic but the system said 'No, you can't!', so here we go. If you'd like more details, I'll be glad to provide them - just e-mail me at the below address.

We had the installation done by a plumbing contractor just this side of Souris. At the time, the Federal Government were allowing a small rebate if the work was done by an 'accredited' installer and there were only a half-dozen or so companies on their 'accredited' list for the Island. I asked for estimates from four of them - as far west as Kensington - but only two actually produced quotes. Of the two - one in Ch'town and one near Souris, the Souris contractor was by far the least expensive. He did the calculations, the plumbing and supplied the heat pump and constant pressure wellpump but subcontracted the well-drilling, electrical and ducting to eastern Island tradesmen with whom he generally works. It's a six ton Nordic compressor unit from Maritime Geothermal and we had to upgrade our electrical to 200A. Another 120 foot well was needed plus a fair bit of ducting modification/addition (the heat pump moves a lot more air than our oil furnace did and we insulated the basement at the same time). The whole lot came to a little more than $25,000, but I still have to install an Emerson soft-start module, a pressure reducing valve, stainless braided connections to and from the coaxial coil along with T's and drain valves to allow flushing - all of which will add another $800 or so. None of those items (with the possible exception of the cleaning/flushing connections) are essential but I think they will fine-tune the system more to my liking.

Its early days yet (the system went into operation in early December) and your mileage may vary but it has cost us about $210 a month to heat a 3000 sq.ft. house. It also keeps the temperature comfortable all day, as we used to turn the thermostat down to 17 at night and my wife complained of the cold. She no longer does. It also helps - although I can't quantify it - with the hot water, as there's a DSH and buffer tank in the system.

Hope this helps,
Regards,
Brian
alexander.greig @t gmx.com

[AMI Contracting]

Brian- if you find no other resource, perhaps we can train you to do much of your own maintenance.

[abgreig]

Hi Joe -

Thanks; I've already expanded my geothermal knowledge ten-fold just from reading this forum.

The Nordic manual http://www.nordicghp.com/images/stor...stager410a.pdf has a pretty good description of the coil flushing procedure and very basic maintenance on P.23. I was thinking more about the refrigerant circuit; i.e. replacing the filter/drier, or any performance/pressure checks which might be required. I'm not sure, but I believe one cannot legally work on a refrigerant circuit in Canada unless duly qualified - and the required equipment would probably be prohibitively expensive. Any other suggested maintenance procedures would certainly be appreciated.

Thanks,
Brian

[AMI Contracting]

Cleaning the coax is not required as frequently as some imply as long as the controls are down stream of the heat pump (keeping particles in suspension).
Refrigerant side work is fairly easy for any refer or AC mechanic as charging by scale once repairs are made take much of the mystery out.
Don't let anyone put refer gauges on your heat pump unless it fails- that is not normal maintenance.

Get yourself some gear measure entering and leaving water and air temps. We can do most of our trouble shooting from here.

[abgreig]

Hi Joe -

>>Don't let anyone put refer gauges on your heat pump unless it fails- that is not normal maintenance.<<

O.K; now that's interesting! As there are Schraeder service valves on the compressor low and high pressure lines...

While, I've got your attention, Joe, I just noticed that the sight glass is showing deep into the purple 'Caution' range and I'm getting more than a few bubbles for quite a while after startup. The system, as I mentioned, has only been in operation since early December so I'm thinking that, as it is a new installation, a filter/dryer change might be in order? My limited knowledge of refrigeration would also lead me to believe that bubbles in the sight glass are an indication of too low a refrigerant level; but already? Would a slightly clogged filter cause that too? Perhaps I should change this thread over to troubleshooting!

Thanks,
Brian

[urthbuoy]

The refrigeration side of a heat pump doesn't really involve a maintenance schedule. It typically can be inspected and serviced, but, as AMI points out you don't check refrigeration pressures until there is an issue showing. The reason being you both can lose refrigerant when doing this and introduce air/water vapours in to the refrigerant side. Also the filter drier is not like a air filter in that it needs servicing. It is an added security in removing water vapours that may have been left in the system during manufacturing.

You have not indicated there are any operating issues with the system, so I'm not sure if we're troubleshooting something?

Any refrigerant guy (think air conditioning) would likely be able to service the refrigerant side of the heat pump should the refrigerant side be indicating an issue.

Here is a standard inspection for the refrigerant side only (assuming all water/air side values have been recorded).
- compressor amp draw compared to specifications
- listen to the sound of the compressor
- check voltage draw and compare to specifications
- possibly check compressor windings with ohm meter

That's about it. Now if there is an actual issue with the unit, there are more intrusive diagnostics.