EcoRenovator - DIY Geothermal install

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- - DIY Geothermal install (https://ecorenovator.org/forum/showthread.php?t=6777)

Probably knock off fittings or similar and it's likely they may not supply direct burial rated ones to be price competitive. DB is gonna have a lot more pressures and movement from the outside. Even top side would see a lot of potential pipe movement.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pinballlooking (Post 63582)

I have a pressurized Geo system it has recently loosing pressure.
The fittings that came with the kit were shark bite style fittings for the 1” Pex. There was six of these fittings. They all were dripping. They were covered in pipe insulation so it was hard to see.

They get condensation so it is not apparent that it was happing. One fitting had drip when there was no condensation.

I got the razor blade and found one leak. Then a cut open all fitting like this one and everyone had a drip.

I replaced all of them with crimp fittings. I just checked again after A few hours and it still had good pressure.
I will check tomorrow and some going forward to make sure I have good pressure.

https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1615177713

These worked for two years not sure why they just are not working anymore but they are all gone now.

All the fittings are in my crawl space. It just looks bad as it was wrapped in insulation and leaking.
I think they were knock offs. I am glad they are gone.

I have no connections at all under ground. All loops terminate at the manifold in the crawl space.

https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1545368317

These smaller push Nibco fittings are all doing fine. It was just the 1" fittings that all went bad. These smaller fittings seem much higher quality.

https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1615255675

Loop pressure has held @35 psi for almost a week now. This is good news.
It is back to just working again.

Thanks for the nice write ups and details. I will miss out on the bigger tax credits, but will be doing geothermal in 2023 on the new house build.
I am hoping to do a DIY solar panel install too. I will have to look into the inspection requirements for that.

Three years and still working well. I just changed the filters and topped off the loop pressure for the winter season.

We are happy with the system I is working better now that the loops dirt settled in. I guess after the first year it did better.

When I say did better I watch the loop temps and see how hot or cold the loop gets at the end of summer and winter.

The loop has not been getting as hot or cold at the end of the seasons now that the dirt is packed around the loops.

It sill worked well under those conditions but would use more energy doing it.

my brother never put in the instrumentation for that, but I would. He had his 3 loops fused to a 1" header pipe, but I think I will bring the (4 ) loops into the crawlspace like you did. I really like the idea of independent purging and testing. My crawlspace will be just short of an unfinished basement with 6' height. That will make for a great equipment space and heat mass storage area for the solar air system.

I paid extra for the bidirectional thermostat. That has all the loop temps the before heat exchanger after heat exchanger.
It has the before after to the holding hot water tank.
Without this info you have no way to trouble shoot if there is an issue.

The only thing I dislike is they did not offer a Wi-Fi thermostat. I can put one in I even bought one to put in but I lose all that great info.

It is not worth loosing that info to me. With Geo we really do not do setbacks we just set it to one temp and let it run.

yes that is the thing, with more expensive heat I would tend to do setbacks but I don't bother with the split mini's here. They are set and forget. Our house has the original electric central heat, and it has been a year since it ran. I will run it again on Monday as we are expecting some rare temperatures in the teens.

You can use SDR-9 and use sharkbite style fittings.

https://www.geothermalheaters.com/ab...mal-about.html