Nice graphic

Cool. Where did you get this one?

On the back of the GeoOutlook Magazine

I only wish I could feel like this.
The whole thing doesn't add up to me.
I just wish I could figure out what is wrong.
Will the EWT tell the story and how much influence does the proper amount of A/freeze have on the system.
What type of A/Freeze works the best?

Does antifreeze make the system perform more effiecently or just prevent the water from freezing?

Antifreeze does not make the system more efficient. If glycol was used, it actually decreases efficiency. The purpose of the antifreeze is to protect the inside of the heat pump if your loop gets too cold.

The water is the coldest as it is leaving the heat pump. If this water freezes it can split the piping inside of the heat pump and cause major damage.

If your EWT is below 30°, there is a problem with either the design or the the install.

Does that not mean that the outlet from the furnace should be icing up as opposed to the inlet if it is coldest there?

Yes.  It would be really strange to have ice on the Entering Water line and not on the Leaving Water line

not REAL it just means your pumping backwards
Right?

Excellent observation.

That sounds like it might be what is going on here.   If so,  I bet it will work a whole lot better if the flow gets going the right way.

That's what's weird cause there is no ice on the leaving at all.....What's your thoughts ......I don't think it could be hooked up backwards could it otherwise I'm sure we wouldn't get the heat would we?

Do the loop pumps have arrows on them to indicate the direction of flow? Usually the arrow is cast into the side of the pump housing

 It sure sounds like the flow is going backwards.  I really don't know how well a heat pump would work with the loop flow reversed.

I think it would still function if piped backward, but efficiency / COP would drop since would no longer have the advantage provided by counterflow heat exchanger arrangement. TXV would "bail you out" but COP might only be as good as 10+ degrees cooler.

Counterflow arrangement provides for maximum delta-T across wall of heat exchanger, but that may not matter too terribly much given the fairly low delta-T on the water side.

I'll admit I'm shooting from the hip on this one...I'd have to think a bit more about the whole refrigerant cycle - subcooled liquid, boiling, superheating vapor and the water temperatures on the other side of those three processes.

I think the money tree graphic was selling installers on geo systems and not for consumers. We do need more installers, if just to replace the bad ones.

good point. 

Actually, I had to crop the bottom where it talked about tax credits for home owners.

There is an up arrow on the right hand side of the pump and the hose running to it is connected at the furnace labelled "water in". This is the connection that is icing up at the furnace. The down arrow on the left side of the pump is labelled "water out" at the furnace connection. It is cold to the touch but not icing up. Just thought I should mention though that our thermometer reading at our air vents is approx. 88 degrees when the furnace is running. I have a couple of pictures but am not computer savvy to know how to attach these.
What is the definition of COP in the world of Geothermal

Does your system have P/T ports? Can you check the pressure on the in and out of the heat pump while the heat pump is running?

The pressure should be more on the in than on the out.

filter good?

if yes next thought low on refrigerent

half the heat exhanger is likely frozen up

 

Not sure how you check the pressure........We will be having the installer coming over on Tuesday for his final payment so we will get him to check the pressure at that time hopefully......At a glance it certainly appears it is hooked up backwards........Just surprised it would still be able t0 heat the house but maybe that's why it seems it rarely shuts off??? Hard to believe that could happen

oh so it is backwards , disregard my last post then , I thought when you discribed the arrows that the pump to the inlet had an arrow pointing towards the unit,