We recently moved into our home. A couple of weeks ago, the drain light came on our geothermal unit. My husband took the filter out, cleaned it, and then used an air compressor to clean out the drain because it still was not draining. It's been working fine since. Today I went downstairs and noticed that the red drain light was on, along with the green status light, and a red high pressure light. The house was still cooling, just not as well as usual. Had it set at 74, it was cooling to 78.

I was going to wait until Monday to call for a tech to come out, but with temps being so high, I'm just wondering if it will do harm if I keep the air on and take what little air we can get? My husband and I know nothing about the unit.

Thanks for any advice.

Nevermind....I turned the air off. Waited an hour and flipped it back on. Now notice air is coming out and what little is coming out is not cool. Turned it back off and will call a tech. So I guess I no longer need an answer

I infer this may be a WaterFurnace watersource heat pump.

From the limited info I'll hazard a guess that there is a problem with the water loop side. Condensate drain line may still be clogged. If available, try using a shop vac to pull blockage out from drain. I don't recommend pressurizing condensate drain lines, particularly if part of it is behind walls or above ceilings.

Sorry bout your luck softball mom. I feel your pain, our power went out after we came home from fireworks late July 4 and is yet to be restored. Fixing air conditioners all day Fri only to come home to a 90 degree house was somewhat of a bummer.

Update: the tech called me back and said being a Sunday it was gonna be 112 an hour plus 75 bc we live so far out. Tomorrow will be 70 an hour and 50 to come out here. He told me to try and flip the breaker off, let it sit for a few mins and flip it back on. I did that and it's cooling down a little...enough to wait for him to come tomorrow so it's cheaper

Thanking God the temps won't be as hot today as they have been the last 10 days (105-107). Only a high of 91 today. Never thought I'd ever say "only" and "91" in the same sentence haha!

Engineer, I will update after he leaves tomorrow. Hope it's something simple. Thanks for your advice.

Joe, that's awful from what I see on my facebook, lots of people are having trouble with their a/c's keeping up. Guess on he bright side, it's good business

Posted By joe.ami on 08 Jul 2012 10:15 AM
... I feel your pain, our power went out after we came home from fireworks late July 4 and is yet to be restored. Fixing air conditioners all day Fri only to come home to a 90 degree house was somewhat of a bummer.

Sorry to hear this Joe.  Hopefully your neighborhood's power will be restored soon.

Keep on the look out for those who may struggle with the heat over a prolonged period of time, particularly the elderly.  In the Dallas area here, this is a particular problem when there's a prolonged power shortage (multiple days).  And with multi-family tenant units where ownership doesn't pay the electric bill and electricity is finally shut off.

Good luck!

Best regards,

Bill

Posted By softballmom on 08 Jul 2012 01:48 PM
... lots of people are having trouble with their a/c's keeping up. Guess on he bright side, it's good business

Here in the Dallas area it's now Christmas time for HVAC businesses, with 7 day / week work weeks, starting each day very early and going long into each night. 

Hope you get your unit fixed quickly.  Temps in the 100s is no fun - last year in the Dallas area we had 79 days that went over 100°F, and lakes that supply drinking water getting close to causing emergency municipal actions to conserve water.

Interestly, a design practice here in Dallas is sometimes employed where 2 smaller units are put in versus one large unit.  That way, a residence isn't left without any cooling if just one unit breaks down.

Good luck getting your unit fixed quickly!

Best regards,

Bill

So this is what he wrote on the invoice:

Blow out drain, installed gell tab, cleared air coil, checked loop an air Temps return 68* supply 51* WI 95.3 WO 102* suction psi 64 head psi 220 psi checked amp draw compressor.

So of course none of that makes sense to me but he said there was still a small clog but everything looked good. I asked why the hi pressure light was on, he said he couldn't find anything wrong with it and that it could just be bc of a combination with the dirty coil and clog. But anyhow...it's working. Thank you all for being so kind!!

None of that is consistent with a high pressure alarm. Neither a dirty coil nor a clogged condensate drain can be linked to high refrigerant pressure. In fact, a dirty coil reduces refrigerant pressures while in cooling mode.

At any rate, glad to hear it is working for now.

When the OP quotes "WI 95.3 WO 102*" from the service report, I assume these are water in/out temps (F). That's pretty warm water. For a given duty of the COAX exchanger, and of course fixed heat transfer area, since Q=U*A*dT or dT = Q/UA, then an increase in water temperature forces the refrigerant to back up that much more on its vapor pressure curve, making the compressor work harder. The higher condensing pressure may just be over what the HP sensor was selected for reporting a high refrigerant pressure condition. I suspect that when the weather cools to reduce the duty or the ground cools off this fall and the water inlet temperature falls accordingly that the light will go out. I'm theorizing here. I'm not a tech.

Funny you mention the water temperature because around the same time the air quit working our hot water was getting extremely hot. Coincidence? I was going to call the water heater manufacturer because it's new (bought 10 months ago). I thought maybe he thermostat had gone bad.

Posted By softballmom on 09 Jul 2012 11:37 AM
So this is what he wrote on the invoice:

Blow out drain, installed gell tab, cleared air coil, checked loop an air Temps return 68* supply 51* WI 95.3 WO 102* suction psi 64 head psi 220 psi checked amp draw compressor.

So of course none of that makes sense to me but he said there was still a small clog but everything looked good. I asked why the hi pressure light was on, he said he couldn't find anything wrong with it and that it could just be bc of a combination with the dirty coil and clog. But anyhow...it's working. Thank you all for being so kind!!

As a service tech, I have a problem with the way your tech did his job. The LAST thing any service tech should do is break into the refrigeration circuit with a guage set. It looks like he started the right way by obtaining the EWT (WI) and LWT (WO).  That is the first step in calculating the Heat of Rejection/ Extraction. A tech needs to find the EWT (Entering Water Temp), LWT (Leaving Water Temp), EWP (Entering Water Pressure), LWP (Leaving Water Pressure), EAT (Entering Air Temp) and LAT (Leaving Air Temp). With the EWP, LWP and EWT a tech can calculater how many BTU's/hr your unit is rejecting into the loop. If that number falls outside of the unit's published ratings, then and ONLY then should a guage set be used.

In the cooling mode, a dirty coil would cause LOW PRESSURE, not high. Some units have a clogged drain sensor in series with the low pressure sensor, but again, that would cause low pressure.

The last couple posts have raised some interesting points. I'd like to know what refirgerant the system uses - 22 or410a. There should be a label with a bunch of info including which refrigerant.

95 / 102 waterside temps are hot but not crazy hot, depending on location. Closed loops in the deep south will run such temps routinely (that's why I don't like them - the efficiency just isn't there) However, most systems can cope with such temps.

220 PSI high side refrigerant pressure is quite mild. It suggests R22. It also suggests system may be undercharged (or became undercharged when tech attached guages) Sloppy use of refrigerant gauge manifold could have cost the system 10+% of its charge. A competent tech with a properly equipped manifold can limit diagnostic losses to a mere whiff of gaseous refrigerant. A foolhardy tech can lose several ounces of liquid refrigerant.

Elevated hot water temperatures (assuming system has the heat recovery refrigerant desuperheater option) support a low system charge hypothesis. Compressor is cooled by refrigerant flowing through it, and an undercharged system will exhibit substantially elevated discharge gas temperature. The desuperheater will harvest that excess heat, and that fact coupled with longer run times, also occasioned by low charge / reduced capacity / hot weather will result in hotter domestic water.

Note well that the foregoing is conjecture based on scanty information...nothing beats competent boots on the ground.

Internet advice, while free, is often worth every penny paid for it

Thanks engineer we were on the phone tonight with someone for the water heater, we're disconnected and they never called back. Being after hours, we couldn't call back. Grrr. Anyhow, there is definitely a problem with the water heater. It was getting really hot before we went on vacation but the air was still working when we got home. Now, the tub will fill halfway up before hot water runs out and the air is not gettin real cool anymore. In addition, now the dhw hi limit light is flashing yellow on and of throughout the day.

I'm not sure what I'm looking for on the sticker. There are all kinds of numbers. Im looking for the numbers 22 or 410a. The only thing I found was where it says factory charged and under re it says r22. Is that the number you are looking for?

Anyway, will wait and see what happens with the water heater. If that yellow light continues to come on I will be calling the other company that works on the water furnaces. I really appreciate te help you all give wih my limited information.

I agree. I will not even allow my tech's to check the freon level until they tell me the psi and drops.