Waterfurnace Installation Issues

What is his EWT?

 

I wish I knew....he emailed me and then spoke with him. There is no temp gauge on his PT port....I wonder at what EWT temp range the Premier will go into Stage 3? He's calling the installer to have it checked out....

They have their thermostats inside the house set at 69 F...

 

Stage 3 is not a function of EWT, if stage 2 is running and can't keep the house warm, then stage 3 is engaged.

If his EWT is OK, then switching antifreeze will not do him much good.

If the outside temp is really cold, it is possible that his house and heat pump have reached the design temp at which stage 3 is needed. Not much can be done about it.

 

I'll pass this info along to him...thanks

It sounds like what was promised in the contract "system will deliver temps of 70 F with outside temps of 0 F" was all smoke and mirrors...maybe he needed a 6 Ton unit as opposed to 5 Tons....

 

Does your contract say something similar?

 

Yes indeed.

 

It could be and most likely is that the loop is cold because there is too much load on the unit. I would look for a return air leak drawing out side air into the duct system. 29 deg loop temp entering the unit and leaving at 24 is a very acceptable temperature. does not sound like a loop problem to me.

 

I have never seen a gas furnace with any type of instruments. Why would you think a geothermal needs them?

 

Boy, this thread is hitting too close to home. I have the same system, highest KWH usage in 2 years (installed the WaterFurnance NDZ038A11AC this summer to replace a 10 yr old 8-10 seer HVAC) and am very disappointed. Like a previous poster, I keep my unit set at 63 (never alter) and am told by the techie that my red waterflow light and status light OFF is due to the fact that I'm running the system too low in the HEAT mode, Fan on AUTO. It is 17 outside now (was -4 over the weekend) and the stage 2 heat is running constantly w/ the stage 1. System ran well the 2 weeks we ran the AC this past summer. Our house is 2400 sq feet, we have a 3 ton closed loop unit, a trench 300' long, somewhat in the shape of a lower case 'j' . Today I started reading the electric meter w/ note of amount of laundry and showers.
But I digress. Does this running the heat temp too low make sense to you??
TIA for any help you can throw my way, and a big THANK YOU for this educational forum!
betti

 

That's so much bull!

By running lower thermostat settings you are reducing load on the system, which should allow it to recover and run normally, not cut out on low temperature.

From the limited data you present (need entering and leaving loop water temps, return air temperature at the unit would help as well), it sounds like your system is yet another example of a severely short-looped Waterfurnace installation - excellent unit, horrible installation.

 

I agree, here in Wisconsin we just had a few day stretch of temp of -10 or lower for lows. I kept my house at 75 during this. The only time we had issues was when the outside temp was -18 overnight. Even then the issue was that the temp in the house dropped to 73 but the system never faulted and the inlet temp never dropped below 40 degrees.