I am a geo installer and I have been servicing a five year old system for the last few years after the installer went out of business. I have repurged the system twice and have a service contract where I visit the house twice a year. Every six months the pressure of the system is back to zero and the one inch rubber hose between the unit and the pumps is significantly flattened. Once it was so bad that I was amazed that the unit was getting enough water flow not to lock out. This would indicate a vacume of some sort forcing this pipe to collapse like this. By the way it is always the pipe on the downstream side of the coax and the same 200psi hose on the upstream side is perfectly expanded. The consistent drops in psi would make me think there was a leak, but wouldn't a leak let air in as well and not create the vacume that collapses the pipe. I have never dealt with a leak before, so I am not exactly sure how they would act but the collapsed hose has me wondering if something else might be going on here. Thanks

Obviously you are loosing pressure. Do you have more info. How much do you pressurize the system? One or 2 circulation pumps? What kind of flowcenter do you have?

The line into the pumps has the lowest pressure of any point in the system. Therefore a slow leak will show up as a collapsed hose there first. Air would only be drawn in if the section of hose being collapsed is the place of the leak.

I've never seen or usedd one, but I have heard of a device that keeps a slowly leaking loop pressurized using well or city water pressure, although in the case of northern systems with anti-freeze, the AF ratio would have to be monitored

Is this a single unit and in the basement?

I have seen this on dual systems, with non-pressurized pumping systems with a unit in the attic. Air tends to collect if you have any horizontal lines going to the attic and could take days or months to remove...

Thanks for the responses. It is a single unit in the basement. With pressurized pumps.

Curt... I have read a little about systems hooked up to house pressure as well. I would have to keep a close eye on the antifreeze since I am in a northern climate. I have kept this system up and running for two years and the homeowner does not feel it necessary to spend a lot when everything has worked fine (at least in his eyes) for five years or so. I have heard of a loop leak conditioner. Does anybody have any experience with this or recomendation of a specific brand.
Thanks

I added one bottle of conditioner to my loop this year. Seems to have takes care of my slow leak and it didn't seem to have any bad side effects. (The strange thing is all my connections are inside and everything was dry. So not really sure where the slow leak was at).

http://www.geohydrosupply.com/store/mresults2.php?Search=conditioner&x=0&y=0

Good luck!

Posted By engineer on 29 Jan 2012 08:24 AM
... I've never seen or usedd one, but I have heard of a device that keeps a slowly leaking loop pressurized using well or city water pressure, although in the case of northern systems with anti-freeze, the AF ratio would have to be monitored

Here's an example of a loop with a connection to city water to maintain a constant static pressure throughout the seasons of the year (expansion and contraction of HDPE pipe).

Items needed include a regulator, control solenoid, time clock (not shown - connected to solenoid), and incoming city water check valve (not shown).

Hope this helps.

Bill