Maintenance on geothermal system?

[jpsmith1cm]

Still curious about this whole geothermal thing and am still entertaining the idea of installing one within a few years.

Talking to a friend the other night and he claimed that geothermal systems were "High Maintenance"??!!??

Now I can't see too much maintenance that would need to be done to a properly installed and set up system, but maybe I'm wrong.

Can anyone tell me what regular maintenance costs would be over and above a normal split system heat pump?

[INTECHBILL]

wHO'S YOUR FRIEND ! Geo systems have fewer components ! Many years ago everyone was against heat-pumps , because no one understood them , Same as the air bags, same as the catalytic converters, same as the hybrid, and same as the Geo systems..

One day most of the systems will be Geo units do to the fact that they are easier to maintain and are much more cost effective to operate, currently in many states they are the number one sellers -- Do however shop around before you buy.., some systems are a better bang for your buck..

[Bubbleheadski]

open loop with questionable water quality will be more costly than closed loop. The chance of a clogged heat exchanger and crap getting into your solenoid valves and allowing them to leak buy or not open will IMHO make them more repair prone. Water Furnace has some good systems out their but they are costly up front. They seem to have a great customer service from what I have seen. (we had at my old company send a brand new envision unit sent to a customer because his 3rd compressor had just failed.) old sys was about 6 or 7 yrs old.

[jpsmith1cm]

wHO'S YOUR FRIEND ! Geo systems have fewer components ! Many years ago everyone was against heat-pumps , because no one understood them , Same as the air bags, same as the catalytic converters, same as the hybrid, and same as the Geo systems..

One day most of the systems will be Geo units do to the fact that they are easier to maintain and are much more cost effective to operate, currently in many states they are the number one sellers -- Do however shop around before you buy.., some systems are a better bang for your buck..

Y'know that guy who knows EVERYTHING? This guy knows a little more than HE does.

He is also comparing someone else's experience with a 25-30 year old system with newer systems.

I figured I would ask. I didn't think that a closed loop system would be a big problem as far as PM goes.

[EarthLoop]

We recommend that our customers have their wells re drilled every 3 years just to keep it efficient !! :couchhide:

[karsthuntr]

We recommend that our customers have their wells re drilled every 3 years just to keep it efficient !! :couchhide:
I hope your joking?

If your not please explain.

[air2spare]

the single biggest problem with geo is DESIGN. The depth of the loop wells and spacing is very critical. Needless to say the fix of such problems is very costly.

[Lawrence a]

There is not a lot to do a pm on a geo. I will say that you want to have a closed loop. A lot of people will tell you to run methanol in the loop to keep it from freezing but the down side is it will kill your pump. Put glycol in the loop tests it every few years and keep it to about 17% and you will be fine

[crash11]

There is not a lot to do a pm on a geo. I will say that you want to have a closed loop. A lot of people will tell you to run methanol in the loop to keep it from freezing but the down side is it will kill your pump. Put glycol in the loop tests it every few years and keep it to about 17% and you will be fine

How does methanol kill a pump?

[mo geo man]

You will have to prove to me that methanol is bad. Glycol breaks down, pumps sieze up. Been using methanol 20 years and do not have any problems related to our closed loops.

[jpsmith1cm]

Ok. On the topic of methanol vs glycol.

Any empirical evidence as to one being better than the other?

You state the glycol breaks down. Does methanol?

[mo geo man]

It doesn't breakdown. That is what we were told when we got into geo 20+ years ago and we haven't had a single system with loop conditioning breakdown problems.

[jpsmith1cm]

Explain this, then, if you will.

A friend of mine was told that the loop fluid, some sort of alcohol, was bad leading to poor system performance.

[mo geo man]

I am no alcohol expert but there are different grades of methanol. My truck tire distributer has a grade made for tires. Usually when I have discusions like this the next thing I ask for is specifics and usually in my experiences the rumors can never get validated. I have had to charge a customer to flush glycol out, recharge and replace pumps because the guy that put it in is gone and now they are having problems. I prefer to do it right the first time.