I installed my own system. a 4 ton mcquay with 4 600 ft slinky loops. I am in all sand. when you get down 4 or 5 ft the sand is moist but we do not have any ground water. when i did the loop i watered in some of the sand on to of the loop. just til we couldnt see it anymore. then we back filled and left it at that. there 6 to 7 ft down. it was late fall and we never really got very much rain after.could my low temp be due to the ground not settling. my house is 1800 sq. ranch. its new. I have insulated above and beyond . I also live on the wis, il border. my system works till it gets down around 20. or during daytime hours. at night temps fall and by morning my unit fails. Also where my pipes come through the concrete wall its 60 feet over to the heat pump and 60 back . manifolds inside. qt flow center. any help would be great. theres also 10 inches of snow over the field. thanks, mark also i dont have the de super heater hooked up yet. would that help
The snow in your yard is not my fault. I am in DC still fixing a boiler in Ohio by phone. We will need more input. What or why is the system failing? What is EWT and LWT?. What is EAT and LAT?
the ewt is 34.6 and out going is 30. til night time. then it starts to go down. last night it got down to 6 deg. it was doing fine til it got dark out. we keep it set at 69 deg.I have a 15kw heat strip but it is not wired becouse my gas furnace is still in place. One thing i have to ask is my antifreeze i used. they had me put 8 gallons of peak in when i filled my flow center. the pink stuff i use in my pool. is that right. I have added 6 gallons of glycol today. i misunderstood my tech guy.
the entering water is 34.6 and outgoing is 30. it fails becouse of low water temp, last night it got down to 6 deg and it was doing fine til it got dark out. then temps started to go down. the pump ran more and i dont think the water could recover quik enough coming back in. I have a heat strip 15k but it is not wired up becouse i use my gas furnace as back up. also when i filled up my flow center.they had me use that pink stuff a guy would use in a pool to winterize. 8 gallons.
How did you arrive at a 4 ton unit? What were the results of the Manual J Calc? How many feet long are the slinky trenches?
So many possibilities. Short loop. Air lock. Turbulent flow? Circ pump/ head loss. But in the end, it sounds like it is working fine. Just not sized for your house. Design then build.
Where did you get the equipment(heat pump)? How did the seller counsel you regarding loads, equipment sizing and loop design?
You need to read what folks ask you and not just revert to the wine. The loss of heat in the house and the ability of the geo system should not be related to the sun shinning. I hope your "cost" included engineering, design, and warranty, If it did not you have not "saved" anything and would not be here. Insulating the basement is a good idea, but it will not fix the geo if it is wrong. I am east for a week then Cleveland then maybe west. Are there any mountans west of the windy before Boulder?
That is the difference between him looking at the problem on site and us looking at a computer screen trying to solve a problem thousands of miles away.
The collective knowledge on this forum far surpasses anything you can comprehend! 1400 irrigation installs would be child's play by comparison. Check the attitude at the server and information will flow your way. Bergy
PJSSAILOR Hi Newbie DIY Sorry to hear you are not heating well. My "home" territory is about 300 miles North of you but I gave up on the white stuff and now anchor most of 900 miles south of you . My problem is cooling not heating. First I am really impressed with the people on this forum. I have been researching Geo most of 2 years (off and on) while I was remodeling and adding nearly 100% to the space I was heating and cooling. I have learned a great deal on this site in the past few weeks. Secondly, I am really impressed with what you have accomplished. There are many reasons for DIY. Not just saving on the cost of the project but learning enough to avoid the mistakes some of the HVAC contractors will make. There really are few standards of what it takes to be a contractor. Little tests if any- mostly financial. They have to learn somewheres too and some seem trying to learn on my project. I have had "people" try sell their stuff who obviously know far less than others who I have interviewed. You will get your problem figured out in a bit. In the meantime, either get the wood stove going or hook up those heat strips for a month or two. I will ask you to take a look at the troubleshooting checklist by AMI contracting (go to the beginning of the Maintenance and Troubleshooting forumla guide.) You are asking for free professional help. You will get far better guidance (and treatment) if you do your best to give them a professional report to work from. I am tempted myself to shortcut that and offer a couple of ideas, but have slapped my hands to resist the temptation. And please ignor the arrogance of someone now telling you how you screwed up by not hiring a pro and so you did not save any money. Why bother - it is too late. My my Grandad used to stay - "to late to shut the gate after the livestock are in the neighbors corn". I frankly think the saving is just beginning. For the next 50 or so years it will continue. Just got to solve the riddle. Besides, as I read these columns, more than one "professional" did not do the job perfectly and charged a lot for their mistakes. Did you know that some manufacturors warrenty only covers parts and materials - not one bit of labor - so the labor comes out of the Installers or the homeowners pocket.. If no one has done a load caculation,yoou can get a free demo program at HVACComputer.com. You can downloaod a homeowners version for $49.00 I may take a day to gather all the informat, and perhaps 2 hours to entwer it all, but it is a great deal more accurate than any contractors rule of thumb I have seen and a lot cheaper than anyone who will do it right will charge. You ultility company may also d it for free. I will watch this thread to see what you discover. Good luck Lloyd
