Below is a post I made back in June. Decision was to add another pump and purge the line. Seemed to be working better though doesn't heat well in sever cold. Fast forward to the past month...the unit keeps kicking out with a flashing red light on the thermostats and Intellizone board. We were told the board needed to be reconfigured and that it is has too many features for our system and kicks out easily. Spent $100 yesterday to have them reconfigure....timed out at 8am today!! Their next suggestion is spending a $100 on a Honeywell board for the system. Help, Waterfurnace! This is sucking up money like mad and we have only lived here a year and a half!! Thanks!! 15 Jun 2010 01:30 PM We have an Envision 5ton Waterfurnace installed by the previous owner about 3 years ago, with the installers unknown. The owner also installed the Intellizone system and has 3 zone dampers. We were noticing a lot of water gurgling and were having problems with cooling. Our local certified dealer is telling us one of the dampers is bad but that the owner did not properly register the warranty so we only get an incremented amount for any warranty work. This seems crazy to us! We are also told the 5ton unit may need 2 pumps and we only have one. We are told to wait and see how comfortable we are though after the damper is replaced to decide if we want to add the costly $$$ additional pump. The dealer says the system may not have been properly flushed and filled at install to purge the air out of the line and that this can be quite messy....just installed new carpet nearby!! Anyone else had issues with a passed along warranty, purging the system or anything like I am talking about? Thanks!

We need lots of info that's not available to us to even try to help.
J

Our local certified dealer is telling us one of the dampers is bad but that the owner did not properly register the warranty so we only get an incremented amount for any warranty work.

An incremented amount? For what? Parts? Labor? Is there some reason you don't know who the installer was? Water Furnace has excellent warranties, but if the installer was goofy, that reduces what the manufacturer can do.

The dealer says the system may not have been properly flushed and filled at install to purge the air out of the line and that this can be quite messy....just installed new carpet nearby!!

Maybe you could have the service people describe the purging procedure and you could then figure out something to protect your new carpet best as you can.

Sorry guys. I realize my post was not too clear. Let me try to clarify. We purchased our home a year and a half ago and have had nothing but headaches with the geothermal. The geothermal unit needed another pump added so we did that and have replaced a damper. Mind you the unit is only 3-4 years old. The unit, with 3 zones, is controlled by a Waterfurnace Intellizone Board. Over the past month and a half, the unit times out on us and gives a rapid flashing red light on both the thermostat and board. All goes back to normal when the reset button is pushed on the Intellizone board. Our contractor talked with Waterfurnace who told them to reconfigure the board. However, we were also told the board is more sophisticated than what is needed for residential and therefore prone to kicking out. ?? The board was reconfigured by the contractor for $100 2 days ago. Yesterday it again kicked out twice. The contractor was pushing to replace the board with a Honeywell on for around $1000 including dampers. After calling yesterday to complain they checked with Waterfurnace again, and they think the whole board should be replaced. The contractor is checking on the warranty. Have any of you had experience with the Intellizone board? Is it too sophisticated for residential use? Thoughts on why it would kick out?

Annj,
I don't know if you have the schematic of the WF control board itself (and this may not apply, but might help steer in the right direction)... I have a GeoMax (which is rebranded ClimateMaster). When the unit goes into lockout of some sort, I get the continuously blinking light also, but on the control board inside the base of the geo unit. In order to see what the error code was, you have to short 2 terminals together on the board - I believe they are labeled "TEST". You short them together for a second (I usually use a screwdriver blade) then release and then the blinking LED will stop its rapid flashing and start blinking the error code number. In my case, I was getting multiple error code 4, which means low Entering Water Temp. Ended up my antifreeze % was wrong. Got that fixed, no more errors.

Also, the gurgling of the water...you're hearing that in the ground loop?? Do you have access to a pressure gauge and temperature gauge? Can you take pressure/temp readings from the P/T ports?

Is it too sophisticated for residential use?

Water Furnace specifically markets Intellizone for use with their residential systems. I very much doubt they consider them too sophisticated.

Is that what WF is saying or is that what the contractor is saying?

That fast flashing red light you see is an RPM fault. The fix to it is to have the technician turn off the RPM sensor so it will clear the fault. the intellizone is specifically designed for residential homes and is a fantastic device if installed and setup correctly. I have worked on more intellizone's then I can remember and 99% of the time the problem is setup.

Any contractor who says Intellizone is "too complicated for residential" is really saying "Intellizone is too complicated for me"

All the setup settings are in the install manuals for Intellizone and the equipment.

Do you have the Orange 3 wire Belimo damper motors? They are fairly robust but a bit confusing to techs used to two wire dampers.

Any gurgling sound from loop suggests air is there - get it gone. Loop must be purged of all air.

A second pump is reasonable for a 5 ton machine, though that decision should be made only AFTER purging the loop AND verifying flow by measuring differential pressure across the unit's water inlet and outlet fittings. That takes 30 seconds with a <$30 pressure guage.

WF only pays a modest amount for warranty repairs.
Intelizone is resi.
Most designs would suggest 2 pump flow center for a 5 ton.....but not necessarily.
Your repairman is clueless (get another opinion).

What Stuart mentioned is not on your appliance, don't short any pins together.

Try Igshpa list to find other local geo pros.
j