Ladia, my hubby just turned off the heat strips (they were on a separate breaker). We shall see.
I would definitely check the performance of the pond loop. Here are few more hints:
If the inlet temperature is low after the HP runs for a while the loop performance is poor either due to too dense winding of the pipe or air trapped inside. If the inlet temperature is OK but return from the HP is low the flow is not adequate. It might be caused by pump cavitations due to low pressure in the pond loop, one pump in dual pump system not working or some restriction in pond loop. There is a pump curve and expected pressure rise (head) in the HP installation manual. If suction and discharge pressure are measured the chart could be used to read the flow rate etc. Low head means high flow rate and vice versa. Listen to the pond loop pump while it is running. It should emit monotonous hardly audible sound. If the sound is "whooshing" or varies in intensity the pump cavitates or there are air bubbles passing trough. If I recall anything else I will post it.
If you have digital steak thermometer use it to check on on the temperatures. It is imperfect but it will give you at least some idea if you need to invest in or borrow the infrared one. The heating season is almost over and you will run out of warranty. You need to find the problems soon. Refloating and fluffing the pond loop isn't that difficult. Based on the pics you should have enough pipe there.
Ladia, thanks I believe you have us on the right track.
Install is coming out on Tuesday morning (yes, warranty getting close to running out). The heat strips ran all night, they never shut off...when we got up at 6 a.m. it was 7 degrees outside and 67 in the house (thermastat set on 70). By 6:30 a.m. the temperature had dropped to 66. Hubby went down after I told him what you said and shut the heat strips off. When he came back from his route at 8:30 a.m. it had warmed to 12 degrees outdoors and dropped to 63 degrees in the house. He had stuck a meat thermometer in the vent and the air coming out was 59 degrees so he turned the heat strips back on. And the vent temperature went back up to 100 degrees. Hubby put heat strips back on. Sometime shortly thereafter (est 9:00 a.m.)I called him after speaking with geo people and they said to have him turn off the thermostat and wait a few minutes and restart it (i forgot what they said, but it would do something to the compressor???). He turned it off and then back on at 9:30 a.m. it was 14 degrees outside and 63 in the house. At 10:00 a.m. it was 16 degrees outdoors, 64 degrees in the house and the air coming out of the vent was 125 degrees. By 10:45 a.m. it was 17 degrees outdoors and the house had warmed back up to 70 degrees and it's been running either on fan (or Phase 1) only the rest of the day the temperature has been 69 or 70 in the house and the temperature coming out of the vent is 85 degrees. So, my hubby's thought is theat the geo wasn't geo'ing at all until we turned the thermastat on and off. Thoughts?
On Tuesday the geo installer will be here with equipment and do a lot of testing and checking (not to mention I requested a thermostate that will tell me when the heat strips are on). Depending what they find, they may call the sub that did the actual pond loops.
