Our horizontal closed loop has had the pressure increased at 6 months and at 12 months (during system checks). Each time, so far, the amount of water needed was less than the previous time. I understand this is normal for the first year or two of operation. The installers here can give you the technical reason. I'm not sure if this is the same with vertical loops. I assume our pressure at 1 year would have been close to yours had our pressure not been adjusted at 6 months.

Did the driller guy use a divining rod while he walked around to determine that you had no leaks. :-) Just kidding. Maybe he could tell somehow.

Loop pressure will fluctuate with ground temp.
Most leaks are on hoses between heat pump and flow center. Some are in the heat pump. Most leaks are not in the loops.
A clever person here a year or so ago spoke of using tissue paper under flow center and joints at heat pump to identify location of a very slow leak.
Do not put anything (except water) in your loop system or you own it. All warranties subject to cancellation once you add chems.
Good Luck,
Joe

Lol, no he used a shovel handle and poked it at the ground.(no kidding) Looks like I'll just keep an eye on it.
Thanks for the responce guys

Gary

I have tried twice to fix small leaks in a system/ not ours/ by using loop conditioner.  It did not work.  I have talked to others who swear the stuff is magic.  I am an advocate of installing auto fills with a flowmeter to monitor the amount of loss, if all other means of identifying the source of the leak have been exausted.  Auto fills are also a good solution for people who can not help themselves from sticking the pt ports for data collection on a daily basis. ocd?
 

Gary, I copied this response I received from Water Furnace regarding our pressurized closed loop system:
"The typical operating loop pressure is 40-70psi with no air present in the system. Loop pressure will fluctuate with the seasons; therefore, it is normal for a technician to verify that the loop pressure is above 40psi while on service calls. We would not be concerned until the pressure is below 15psi. Even then the unit will still run; however, it may not be as efficient."

I'm no expert, but since only 6 cups of water increased pressure from 5 to 45 psi, I doubt the "shovel handle and poked it at the ground" method would detect a slow leak. 6 cups of water intentionally poured on the ground may be difficult to detect a few hours after pouring it, let alone a slow trickle over 1 year! The divining rod might work better. :-)

If you have a private well, and you need more pressure the next time the tech comes out, I did this trick. Since our pressure tank is set for on at 40psi and off at 60psi, and if the pressure is somewhere in between, have someone run water in the house until the well pump starts (40 psi in our case) then immediately shut the water off. Our water pressure comes up to 60psi and is ready for the tech to top off the loop - up to 60 psi. :-)

Generally speaking, at what time of the year will closed loop pressure be the lowest? I assume that will be the best time to top off pressure to the minimum recommended level?

Should pressure be checked with the system not running, running in 1st stage, or running in 2nd stage?

Thanks!

Posted By geome on 12 Jun 2010 01:51 PM
Generally speaking, at what time of the year will closed loop pressure be the lowest?

Should be during the cooling season, when the EWT is highest.

As temperature increases, the volume of HDPE pipe expands faster
than the water inside. If the pipe wasn't pressurized to start with
(and thus, "inflated" a little), loop static pressure could go negative
during the cooling season.

I check static pressure with the system not running.

Thanks Looby :-)

Geo-Flow now makes a tank which can be put on a loop that is leaking that helps deal with actual leaks and air in your loop. I am new to this forum and am not sure how to upload a photo or I would share the diagram of the new product. Looby hit the nail firmly on the head when it comes to pressure in loops.