This is a long post so I'll make the point at the beginning here and then you can read as much as necessary after that...............I am trying to find out about GeoThermal limits when cooling. I am in the south with extreme heat and drought and my water in the closed loop cannot dissipate the heat so about twice a day it reaches "Hi Pressure Limits". I can "power off and back on" the system and do a re-set and it is fine for many hours. During these periods of extreme heat and no rain I have to re-set it a couple of times in a 24 hour period. I am trying to find some place to research this situation to see if the explanation I am given (see below) for this is correct or do I possibly have other issues. any help, knowledge or source of information to learn would be helpful.
The unit is a Water Furnace Premier 2 MODEL ATV 057 D 11 0 C L T. it was installed in June 1998 as a new installation.
This is the second year in a row I have had this problem and it has not happened prior to the last two. The last two summers have been extremely hot and dry.
Following are some notes taken last year when this occured which offer more details:
8/8/06 = They checked the system and nothing wrong with it. Tech said it is just overloading the system. When it gets this hot with no rain the ground temp rises above its constant 65F. This is made worse when the night temp does not get low enough for heat to get out of ground. Nights have stayed above 75F. So the water in the lines do not get to cool down as much as needed and as temp in water rises so does the pressure – reason for the fault light.
Nothing can do but continue to re-set so it will cool as much as possible until get through this really hot spell and/or get some rain.
8/14/06 = Spoke with mfr = Nicole
She said re-setting the HVAC repeatedly could damage the compressor, so they do not recommend that. Not knowing all the details it is hard to say if there is some other problem but if the system checked out okay when serviced and since had system 9 summers and this is the first instance – it sounds like just unusually extreme conditions. The best thing to do is when know these conditions are coming to try and avoid heating the house. Close the blinds, not run oven, dishwasher, other appliances unless have to and at night when it is cooler – typical stuff.
Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated!