Well I am at a loss as to what could be causing the low flow issues all of a sudden. All I know is that is very cold in here.

Ok ignore the low pressure thing. That is fixed. i'm an idiot. I'm sorry for wasting everyones time on that. The flow center is hooked back up the way it originally was and the pressures are back up now.

However, that doesn't explain why I kept getting the FP1 fault. I was getting that before I changed the flow center.

updated readings:

ewp: 19psi
lwp : 13psi
ewt : 35.2
lwt : 30.7

So those are back where they should be. However, still not sure about the FP1 fault. Compressor has been running for about 10 minutes now. Will see if it keeps running. I'm still suspecting something with the water temperature when EWT was 32 and LWT was 27. However, seems like the unit should be able to handle that.

Still running strong after 45 minutes or so.

EWT : 33.5
LWT : 28
EWP : 19psi.

Still no idea what caused the faults. I know i've been jumping all over the place, but does anyone have any other thoughts based on these numbers?

You should check your antifreeze concentrations, there is a chance the heat exchanger was frozen. You reported one an delta T of 10F, which suggest low flow. When the heat exchanger starts to freeze, the formation of ice starts on the inside wall of the coax, further reducing the lumen and reducing the flow. As a result, your delta T will go up , what it did in your case.
Check the type of glycol, some brands only have 60-70% antifreeze (PG) in it. Cryotek-100 is one of the culprits, commonly sold by supply houses.

Check the type of glycol, some brands only have 60-70% antifreeze (PG) in it. Cryotek-100 is one of the culprits, commonly sold by supply houses.

Yeah you bring up a point that I think I forget to make in the beginning of this thread, and is probably the cause of my problem. The glycol that was used turned out to be only 80%. So let's assume I need 17.5 gallon and I have 15 gallon of 80%, then I'm probably to low on glycol correct? So I'm thinking some should be added My question would be how much? A couple gallons of 100%?

Minor details…..LOL.
How long is your pipe? 3000ft for the loop. How much for the header pipe and the header, and inside your house? What is the length and diameter. What is the volume in your flowcenter? Are you headered inside or outside? PS: Do not again let the water level drop below the intake in the flow center. You are introducing bubbles into the loop that way, which can shut off certain circuits of the loop.

I know I thought I had said that in the very first post and when I went back and looked sure enough I hadn't. I guess it was in my head but didn't make it on paper.

How much for the header pipe and the header, and inside your house? --> From headers to furnance I probably have about 20ft of 1 1/4 PVC on the inlet and outlet side.

Are you headered inside or outside? --> Inside

What is the volume in your flowcenter? --> Manual says approximately 4.5 gallon.

PS: Do not again let the water level drop below the intake in the flow center. You are introducing bubbles into the loop that way, which can shut off certain circuits of the loop. --> Thanks for the tip. My ignorance coming out again.

If you have 15 gallons of 80% glycol, then you have 12 gallons of 100% glycol. Your system with all the extra pipes and reservoirs is probably around 80 gallons total. 12/80 is 15%. 15% glycol means your freeze protection is likely around 22 or 23F.

To get to something like 25%, I think you would need to dump about 9 gallons and replace with 100% glycol. Off the cuff, 9 gallons would give you 21/80, or 25%, bearing in mind that when you dump 9 gallons, you,re also dumping about a gallon of the existing glycol.

Someone please verify?

I remember when my concentration was at 10%, the exchanger froze, the unit went into lockout, and lovely aux heat came on. Switching it to cooling for a few minutes restored the exchanger for a time.

You NEED to know the % of glycol in the system NOW. Get a refractometer, glycol is not cheap. Why dump the entire loop when you can easily remove some liquid and add pure glycol back to the loop.

You NEED to know the % of glycol in the system NOW. Get a refractometer, glycol is not cheap. Why dump the entire loop when you can easily remove some liquid and add pure glycol back to the loop.

I agree but unfortunately time is not my side. I have to get something done before it starts locking up again and we have to go without heat. I can't find any glycol close so tomorrow I'm gonna have to drive about 2 hours to get some. (assuming they have it in stock.)

Usually the mixtures with corrosion inhibitors contain 70% glycol. You should have 76 gallons of fluid. If that contains 15 gallons of 70%, you only have 10.5 gallons in there. You need 19 gallons for 25% if you have 76 gallons of fluid. So drain out 15 gallons, add 15 gallon of your 70% solutions, and you should be fine. How do you do that? Pump out 4.5 gallons out of your flowcenter, without running anything, fill it up with with your 70% PG, then turn on the pumps for 1 minute, shut the pumps off again, redo this 3-4 times until you have all the PG in without introducing air into the loop. Or you can pump the fresh highly concentrated PG into each circuit separately, since you headered inside. You can redo the math if you are sure you have 80% instead of 70%.

My plan was to get some 100% glycol and basically do what you said above and start by adding 10 gallons. Does that sound good if I'm using 100%?

15 gallons of 70% solution is equal to about 10 gallons of 100% solution. You could use either.

Not sure what the pros will say on alternatives to HVAC designated PG, but I have used Sierra antifreeze, which is readily available at some NAPA, Ace Hardware and Tru-Value hardware stores. It is 95% PG, a bit of water and a couple percent additives.

mtrentw,

Thanks for the info. The geothermal dealer close to me (geo hydro supply) does not have any either, I was counting on them having some. Now i'm in worse shape that before. I found the cryotek product on lowes mentioned above but can't find any stores with it in stock.

I swear it's like this stuff is a federally controlled substance. Ok I think I finally found some somewhat close at a Menards. Can someone check out this link before I drive 2 hours to make sure this will suffice? I'm sure this stuff will work, but just wnat to be positive.

http://www.menards.com/main/heating-cooling/hvac-cleaners/cryo-tek-100-non-toxic-anti-freeze-70-virgin-propylene-glycol/p-1450147-c-8528.htm

Ok I got ahold of some glycol locally (10 gallons 96% and 5 gallons 75%).

I followed docjenser's post above and emptied the flow center filled it up, turned on the pumps for 60-70 seconds and then drained the flow center again and added another 5 gallons for a total of 10 gallons. I'm going to see how this goes before adding anymore.

Thanks again to everyone for there help again with this. I really appreciate everyone's time.

Take some of the fluid and stick it in the freezer and see if it freezes. This will give you a very rough indication what your protected to.