Geothermal HVAC inspection

[John M. Acaron]

Geothermal HVAC Inpection
Any info/details in inspecting a HVAC new (200 Geothermal unit (Closed loop).

Have anyone conducted an inspection in Florida? Feeback is ppreciated.

Thanks!

[Larry D. Kage]

Originally Posted by jacaron

Geothermal HVAC Inpection
Any info/details in inspecting a HVAC new (200 Geothermal unit (Closed loop).

Have anyone conducted an inspection in Florida? Feeback is ppreciated.

Thanks!

The "search" function above brought these:
http://www.nachi.org/forum/search-1236934.html

[David A. Andersen]

, if you're familiar with heat pumps, whatever you do to test them do the same thing with geothermal.

There is no auxiliary heat to test.

Turn it on and listen for any funny noises.

Look for any sign of water leaks.

And of utmost importance, you should never see frost! Water circulation is generally the largest problem you will encounter. Reduced water flow will cause excessively cold suction refrigerant lines or frost.

Basically it's like a furnace. Turn it on and if it makes hot or cold air you'll have to assume things are working.

No one should expect a home inspector to evaluate a geothermal HVAC system. As Michael mentioned, you have a hard enough time finding an HVAC contractor to evaluate one.

If you find something odd, post it here and we will try to help.

[Greg Veal]

It has been 15+yrs since being active in "the HVAC business", but we always provided in line electric auxillary duct heaters for emergency use, should the compressor shut down for any reason, or water circulation became a problem.
I'd look for aux.strip htr's somewhere within the system. If none found, I'd recommend the system be inspected by a Prof. HVAC Contr., and recommend to my client to request a quote to add this "apparent" option.
Just seems logical to me to be prepared for the likely reality.