i am considering non pressurized over pressurized. does anyone have any knowledge of these two brands and if so,do find one better than the other.

We have used both brands but not QT in 2 years. We found Geopulse to be slightly better engineered but to be fair have not looked at any QT units for a while. They may be on par now. Both have worked flawlessly for our customers.

thanks gone geo. i appreciate you taking the time to help me. have you used any 1inch slinkys versus 3/4 inch. would i gain anything using it over 3/4.

> 1inch slinkys versus 3/4 inch
3/4" for a 1 ton slinky is a great match for 2.75-3gpm flow required at the heat pump and keeps the loop from laminar flow in the peak cold.

You can go to 1" or larger but have to balance flow/tonnage/trench length/soil types etc... and keep the flow center and heat pump requirements in mind at the same time to ensure success.
If you are not trained in ground loop design, it is better to stick with the tried and true methods.

i have the manual j done and now i need advice or a program to figure out the slinky loops i need. i need 4 ton 2441sq ft house. i have max 78 ft by 107 ft yard to use. i have the estimates on the verticals and it is too risky in price. 84oo tor (2 ) 300 ft wells with a 10.00 per ft clause if they have to case it. geoguy told me they just did one with an 8000 over run on casing. i am not poor but that is beyond ever breaking even if that happened. i was told i need about 800 ft per ton , i think i read 600 i minimum per ton. geo guy told me not to overlap them but i do not think i have enough room if i do not overlap them some. is there a formula to use to fiqure out the space needed per length of slinky. thanks if anyone can help ireally want to move on this within a week or two my window is closing soon.

Climatemaster has a nice program called geodesigner. BTW: How did you get your manual-J done? Every company I've talked to won't do it. They just want to sell me a new heat pump.

I just installed a climatemaster tranquility 27 (6 ton) with the QT flow center. I was very impressed how easy it was to isolate an individual loop and purge them one at a time. I also checked the gravity level to ensure the proper amount of methonal and I liked the easy access the qt center offers. I just hope it continues to be a positive experience 5 years from now. We have plenty of backyard space, so i ran the 4 pipe configuration per the climatemaster design program. Water flow is good, temps are great, and I'm able to give the wife 72 degrees (just what she was getting from the propane furnace), but it's not the dead of winter in michigan yet. Hope to get my welserver system up in a week or so for monitoring the performance data.

Way to go!!

post your welserver URL when you get it online

5 years ago I found a small free program that calculated fluid flow. You would select a pipe type (1" HDPE) and a fluid (20% methenol @ temp) a length of pipe, add ubends, heat exchangers, etc. Then you would pick a flow, say 6 GPM, and the program would spit out the head required. Then you could cross that with a pump flow curve and figure out exactly what flow you would get. It would also give you the reynolds number so you knew you had turbid flow. If I only could remember what that program is called and where to get it...

iused elite software to calculate the j

thank you daveumbc. got the program and it is really easy to use. now it says i need 530ft of 3/4 tube does not pay to use 1" it only decreases the loop by 10 ft roughly. now my yard is 78 by 107 ft and i would like to run the loops in the shorter distance not the longer one since it would preclude ever installing a pool . is it possible to have a bend in the trenches sort of like a lazy L that way i can keep a piece of yard loop free. i cannot use the front since there is an abandoned septic there and i would have to re-excavate and hall it away as harzardous waste. i have a driveway on the one side so that is ruled out now. and the other side has underground utilities there and looking at the utility surface post and where they enter the house they are running on an angle so probably taking all the other side. 4 trences would be 130 ft each with 19degree overloop which i assume is 18 degree overlap. no choice in the program for no overlap. this is a great forum . very knowledgeable people here. also i can buy a two year old tranq 27 for about 4,000 grand with climadry or a new one for like 5200 without climadry. opinions.... i like saving but not at the expense of problems. looks like cupro nickel coils are not an option on climadry system. also anyone use intellistart on their systems. drops the start up from around 90 amps to around 30 amps.

forgot i know there is a formula to calculate how much pipe per overlay. does anyone know the formula . and if i go with six trenches over 4 trenches i then have to resize the header correct cause two would be much further away right.

forgot this also the program states i need an average 3kw of auxillary heat but in a total shutdown i need 15kw of aux. i was going to use 10kw of aux but should i just use 15kw just in case the unexpected happens and play safe or am i just thinking into this too much.

Posted By rikmeister on 24 Sep 2011 01:07 PM
thank you daveumbc. got the program and it is really easy to use.

Just curious,  what program did you get?

geo designer 3.2

rikmeister, I used the same program for my pipe layout too. Would like to hear more about the climadry option.... I got the nickel, but the local climatemaster distributor said we don't need the climadry here in Michigan. I did not purse any further info, just ordered the unit based upon his recommendations. He recommended a 15KW two stage emergency heat strip for my 6 ton unit. Guess it activates a 5KW first, then after a timer expires and it still calling for emergency heat, it kicks in the second 10KW. I installed it above the fan, but did not hook it up as I have the propane furnace still in place with backdraft dampers that I will use for emergency heat when I tie it into my TZ4 zone panel.

the one with the climadry is the used one two years old. i think the climadryis a 1700.00 option. i do not think i need it either but the price is very tempting. unit is 1500.00 cheaper than a new one with less. i may just get the new one though.