I'm looking into purchasing a DX system for the new home I'm building that consist of SIP walls and roof and ICF foundation. I'm looking at systems from Nordic, ECR Tech and Earthsource. Unfortunately, nobody remotely close to me sells or installs these systems. I was hoping that I could purchase a system online and install it myself, but nobody will allow me to do this. I've already taken care of everything else myself including installing the PEX in the slab and underneath the sub floor for the radiant heating. Now I'm stuck without anyway to bring heat to my setup. At this point I'm frustrated and may just purchase a much more typical and less green product to provide my heat. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

I trust you've looked at the distributor list on ECR Tech web site. Contact the one closest to you, or call ECR and they can tell you who the distributor is who covers your area. Call them to find out who is, or may be considering becoming, a dealer for ECR. The distributor knows this better than ECR does. Any dealer within a couple or three hundred miles ought to be willing to come help you. Also, see if you can find an HVAC dealer anywhere close who is progressive minded. They may be willing to look at and take on the ECR line. Chances are they don't ECR exists. That's my situation. My HVAC man, who happens to be a nephew-in-law, didn't know anything at all about ECR until I told him. He's excited about the technology. We've been dealing by phone with the distributor who is over 500 miles away.

In my case I may scratch ECR because of cost, even though I've had my heart set on hydronic heat for decades. The reason is I've just become aware of Daikin air source heat pumps (Mitsubishi has similar) that have a COP around 3 down at 5F. The primary principle of operation is Variable Refrigerant Volume (or Flow), VRV or VRF, where the amount of refrigerant being circulated varies according to the load on the indoor units. You can also connect up to 8 indoor units on one outdoor unit. The indoor units are only available as air handlers, but in a variety of sizes from 1/2 ton to 4 ton. More expensive than convential forced air systems, but less than geosource heat pump coupled to radiant. How much less, I don't know yet. My nephew HVAC man just learned of this system a couple of weeks ago, so he's excited about it also. He'll put in whichever system I opt to go with. I'm just at the point of getting a loan, so haven't started construction yet.


I didn't know Nordic had a DX system. I was just on their web site. Nothing will download and several pages are dead.

You have to really know what you are doing to install geothermal systems. Most home owners do not have the tools or the technical know how to install the systems properly. Earth Source Energy Solutions will not sell any products to homeowners or HVAC contractors who are not factory trained. If you spend thousands of dollars on a system and do not get it installed right...then you will have issues. You will be upset since you spent your hard earned money on the system and can't get it to work. Then you will have to hire someone to come in and correct your mistakes, which most of the time costs more than having someone to install it correctly initially. Either way...it is a bad issue. Plus, it hurts the reputation of the product.

I have seen this many times in the field. You will save a substantial amount of money in operating cost if the system is sized and installed correctly. Earth Source has the best warranty in the industry [10-years parts/labor and a 55-year loop warranty]. But like any system manufactured today, the warranty is void if the system is installed incorrectly.  

If you would like some information or some assistance with your situation, please drop me an email.

glassman,

where do you live?