Blaine, I got my shocker today, my second electric bill has come in (this is after not being able to determine if electric strips were on and also finding out that the transformer outside wasn't big enough). My previous bill was $267.00. Maybe someone can point me in the right direction. This one is or 01/23/08-02/20/08 (28 days) and says I used 5,045 KWH and my bill is $505.78. This makes me think the heat strips were kicking in full force and heating the house and geo wasn't. The geo tech never came back with an answer from the manufacturer(and yes, he's getting a call tomorrow). If the heat strips have to maintain where the geo fails, I'm in deep trouble with geo. I just need some direction in what can cause this problem, if any of you have experienced this.
Does anyone know what the termperature of the incoming fluid should be coming in from the pond as we know the tech commented on how cold it was. And the second time, he talked about how cold it was again.
What are your thoughts on this one, did any of you experience any problems in the first year of your geo (especially with the heat strips? At this rate my geo is costing $100 extra electric a month and not the $40.
I would turn the heat strips off to test if it really affects the comfort level and electric bill. If you can't tell the difference in comfort leave them off. I would also look closely at the program in the controller. In my opinion there should be a delay in the algorithm turning the heat strips on. In example the temperature would have to be below the set point for more than xx minutes or dropping despite HP running or something similar. To turn the heat strips on anytime somebody opens the door makes no sense.
I would also check the temperature of coolant entering the house. Spray some black matt paint on the suction pipe and shoot it with the infrared thermometer when HP starts and then again after it runs for certain time. The first measurement is the temperature in the pond. The difference between measurements is the temperature differential. Hopefully somebody who does geo for living will read this and tell you what is the reasonable temperature differential for properly functioning pond loop. I measured 34F several years back while estimated temperature of the water in the pond was about 36 F.
I looked at the pictures of your coils you published many pages back. The coils are so called "fluffed coils" meaning that there should be spacers between each layer of the piping and the piping shouldn't be tightly wound. Your coils don't look too fluffed to me. If the fluid is way too cold they should refloat the coils and fluff them properly. There still might be air in them. I learned from my installer that the flow center migh not be able to purge it. They used quite large portable pump to get the air out. But my house is about 50 ft above pond level.
Infrared thermometer is available here:
http://www.omega.com/ppt/pptsc.asp?ref=OSXL450&Nav=temj04http://www.omega.com/Temperature/pdf/OSXL450.pdfAmazon also sells them.
