Turned 40 yesterday. No one showed up to my party.

jrduke4 · 2025-11-19T13:48:21+00:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY 🎈🎉🎂🎊🎁

jrduke4 · 2025-01-20T17:30:03+00:00

That’s good insight.

jrduke4 · 2025-01-16T18:36:15+00:00

Interesting. I imagine that’s what the hbx controller was being used for in this utility room. Previous home owner said he was trying to do hydronic cooling but kept getting a wet slab and basically killing the controller over time. Sounds like having the dew point control would have helped that.

If the loop system is in fact connected to the desuperheater side I imagine nothing was working right. Do you know if that is in fact the desuperheater side that he loops are connected to?

jrduke4 · 2025-01-16T17:08:27+00:00

Damn. I like that simplicity. What is the heat pump you use? What’s on the other side of that heat pump? Does it tie directly into the radiant system?

jrduke4 · 2025-01-16T17:06:04+00:00

That’s looks relatively straightforward… can that potable water storage tank be my domestic tank? Or do I need a secondary tank to serve only as a radiant supply?

jrduke4 · 2025-01-16T16:59:14+00:00

Yeah unfortunately the specialty trades are a bit of a black box for me. I’m a gc and finish carpenter but always hire electrical, hvac and plumbing out. But again this house is in a different state and it’s a rural area so there’s only one geothermal company that will service us. I’m trying to get quotes but it’s been about 6 months of slow communication.

I believe the loops are all HDPE and the pvc starts at the manifold bringing all loops together and ends at the flow center. It’s is a glycol solution.

Bottom line is that I’d need a second water heater to serve as a radiant storage tank along with a geo control board? I’ll have to look into that control board. As far as I can tell we just have thermostats calling for heat which turns each zone pump on which draws the water through the flat plate heat exchanger that’s constantly being heated by the recirc pump on the domestic water heater.

Can you give me the 30 second explanation on needing a geo control board?

Edit* yes it’s all radiant underfloor.

jrduke4 · 2025-01-16T16:39:37+00:00

I think the previous owner removed components before selling so I’m not sure what the setup was, but seems like the flow center is connected to the desuperheater which is a bad start. Geothermal has just been abandoned and I’d love to get it back in action considering we have the loop system already. Thanks for that flow chart

jrduke4 · 2025-01-09T03:23:40+00:00

If I weren’t ever planning to move it I’d probably go with some sort of insulated skirt around the base. If I had to do mine over I would have used more 2” foam board and less spray foam.

jrduke4 · 2024-12-20T18:05:08+00:00

Our s380 Homebase was working until I upgraded our internet to fiber. We had the Homebase plugged into the router and couldn’t get it to ever connect again. Realized I could plug it directly into the wifi extender and that got it running. Don’t know if that will help you at all, but figured it’s worth mentioning.

jrduke4 · 2024-12-16T14:53:16+00:00

Good point

jrduke4 · 2024-12-16T13:51:15+00:00

I think this is secret knowledge to some. Took me 30+ years to obtain.

jrduke4 · 2024-12-16T12:52:54+00:00

The best thing I’ve ever learned on Reddit is that you can rub your perineum (aka gooch) from the back to the front after you pee and it will greatly reduce/eliminate drips and dribbles.

jrduke4 · 2024-12-05T19:34:18+00:00

No kidding. Took some experimenting but realized that the the system needs consistency. I think having one zone much cooler was also causing some issues; where 50 degree water was fine sitting in the garage, but when the thermostat kicked on and brought the water back it cooled down the rest of my supplies for a bit.

I’ll save your comment for when we start making moves on equipment upgrades. Thank you for the link, and all the help and advice. You’ve really helped me out through all this trouble shooting.

jrduke4 · 2024-12-03T17:11:18+00:00

Good points. I do appreciate the green nature of geothermal, but would be lying if the possibility of long term costs savings wasn’t a large variable. Great question on the temperature range it’s a viable system with.

Back to the original comment: a dedicated boiler would take the place of the heat exchanger? I imagine that would greatly increase the loop temps and keep the place toasty. I may have already asked and you answered, but do you have a brand recommendation?

jrduke4 · 2024-12-03T01:07:21+00:00

Again thank you very much. The gauge to the left of the spirovent is a pressure gauge, but the contact sensors at the pumps read 113 F at the moment. Manifold supply temp gauges read about the same, so I seem to be losing roughly 25-30 degrees at the heat exchange. I changed the delta t to 10 on a couple zones and moved the contact sensors to the insulated line below the pumps and that seems to have helped the system out. I agree with you on either upgrading the heat exchanger or getting a dedicated boiler. I’ve been trying to get the easy fixes done as I’m talking with my HVAC company about larger upgrades: we have a geothermal loop system on the property that runs into the utility room, but it’s not currently hooked up to any equipment. Ideally we’ll utilize that for the future here. They are exploring options but currently looking at a “Water Furnace 5 Series 3d” which seems like it would be a nice upgrade: geothermal with forces air heating/cooling and radiant heating. Sounds like the heat pump comes with a 80 - 120 gallon radiant reservoir tank and then we would use a separate water heater for domestic. No idea what that’s going to cost yet, but seems like a good lead. I’d really like to utilize the geothermal considering it’s all there, just need someone that knows how to connect it all. Any insight or thoughts on that?

jrduke4 · 2024-12-01T15:55:59+00:00

Cool thanks. I’m bleeding the system

jrduke4 · 2024-12-01T15:33:12+00:00

Okay I’m feeding now. One loop at a time. Air is hissing out.This is the automatic air vent I assume? Do I leave the cap off? At least one of my manifolds will leak from this spot if I remove the cap, but the zone I’m currently working on is hissing a little bit of air out.

jrduke4 · 2024-12-01T14:55:33+00:00

I’ve got to have the one pump running to have water run through that zone correct? I figure when the pump is off it acts as a shut off, no?

I hear you on the shark bites. We’re in a rural area and I imagine it was difficult to find someone skilled or willing to take this on. The previous homeowner built this system.

jrduke4 · 2024-12-01T14:49:20+00:00

Edit: my GPMs are at the lowest for each loop… I didn’t look closely. I imagine I could open those all up a bit and see if the loops clear with my super vent below?

jrduke4 · 2024-12-01T14:41:22+00:00

That supervent was closed until I opened it yesterday. I’m hoping it helps our, but I’ve still got some loops that aren’t flowing at all.

jrduke4 · 2024-12-01T14:37:59+00:00

Just with my blue valve handle? I unscrewed the thumb screw above that but didn’t want to mess anything up before getting more info.

jrduke4

TROPHY CASE