Geothermal Heating - Gas Exchange Help Needed

puffbubble

We installed a geothermal gas exchange heating system about 7 years ago and it has just stopped working. All the lights and stuff are on but no noise coming from the box in the garden...our installer no longer around (!!) so does anyone know of any registered installers/maintainers that could give advice/diagnose/fix etc. Would be grateful for any help.

Condenser

puffbubble wrote: »

We installed a geothermal gas exchange heating system about 7 years ago and it has just stopped working. All the lights and stuff are on but no noise coming from the box in the garden...our installer no longer around (!!) so does anyone know of any registered installers/maintainers that could give advice/diagnose/fix etc. Would be grateful for any help.

You could get a refrigeration engineer to look at it as the heat pump is a refrigeration system. Alternatively look for a company that specialises in DX heat pumps as they'll be the only ones with the experience to help you.

Outkast_IRE

Whats the make and brand name , do some research they may have a service rep

puffbubble

It's a Neura system from Austria - Neura themselves don't reply to emails...:(

puffbubble

Touble is, the Neura engineer is not local and wants a guarantee to pay large sum Before coming down to see problem themself - feeling bit like a cash cow with nowhere to go...:mad:

refco

im a refrigeration engineer with heat pump experience i have sent my info in a private message hopefully we can get you up and running soon
worth noting for anyone with a heatpump you are now legally responsible for having the refrigerant gas in your system checked annually check the epa website for info under fgas (flourinated gases) and ods (ozone depleting substances)
pm for more info

Oggie

puffbubble wrote: »

Touble is, the Neura engineer is not local and wants a guarantee to pay large sum Before coming down to see problem themself - feeling bit like a cash cow with nowhere to go...:mad:

Hi,

Just wondering if you got sorted with this problem?

puffbubble

I needed to get a specific engineer on to this problem - contacted the importers and they wanted a fortune up front, and even from the phone diagnosis they were completely wrong!!! So I managed to get in touch with a more local engineer - cheaper call out - and he spent about 3/4 hours making a full diagnosis and contacting the manufacturers in Austria to confirm his assessment. Had to wait another two weeks after that with the temps dropping and hot water bottles being dragged out every night it was a bit of a bind - I hated coming home to a freezing house in the dark...anyhow, all fixed, and the engineer was decent, honest, came when he said he would, charged exactly what he said he would, showed me the import documentation and invoices, so I knew I wasn't being ripped off. If anyone wants to know who he is please feel free to get in touch. Decent sort.

Sorry to the engineer who contacted me, but when I researched the problem even further, I knew we needed specialist help. Thanks for the reply and getting in touch so promptly. Best of luck and here's hoping for a mild winter and red hot summer in 2012!!:)

Oggie

Hi puffbubble,

Just wondering was this the first time you had trouble with your system?
I have same type and had trouble in first two years, basicly last two winters with the hot water bottles like yourself! It was fixed last february and have had no problems yet!!

puffbubble

No, this is the second time we've had a prob. Fortunately the first time was about two weeks after the warranty expired, so they fixed it for nothing - also they reconfigured the system to its optimum efficiency (which was nice) and also it was the time we found out our original installer hadn't installed a hot water system as part of the whole system and we had been stiffed to the tune of about €8k - which is what it would cost to do additional ground works and a retrofit!!!! Anyway, the first time the system failed the error light on the control panel stayed on - electronic component failure. This time it's a complete unit within the control panel - the one on the extreme right of the panel - can't remember the name. Both times electronic failure, rather than the pump or anything else. We are prone to electricity outages, wondering if it is surge related, but the ESB or supply company deny all liability from a legal standpoint and refuse to divulge when outages take place - they just say they don't take place!!! The engineer asked us if we wanted to dispose of the part, but I asked him if he knew of anyone who could fix it in case it happened again. So he has taken it to give to someone to do research on whether it can fixed here in Ireland rather than spending over €1k on a new part again! I'm glad to have found him, and at least as long as he's around we know we've got some form of back-up in times of trouble!

Oggie

Sorry to hear that, some amount of cowboys going around. Glad it's all sorted now. I had to contact Neura in Austria myself and threaten legal action if they didnt sort out the unit. They sent over an engineer to look at it, but after given us an assurance all was well, it broke down few weeks later. So far so good this year now so hopefully it will stay going. As far as I know Neura give a 10 year warranty on their parts, so it should have been covered for you. Just on another note how long per day do you allow your system to run for and what sort of temperature do you seek in your home? Just wondering what the "normal" run times are.

puffbubble

It comes on at 10:45pm and goes off at 7am - uses night rate electricity. And we get a house temp of 21 degrees. BUT we did increase the insulation in the loft - house was built 7.5 years ago and had good insulation put in, but north facing rooms still cool and our cowboy should have increased underfloor pipes in this area, but didn't. So perversely have opened doors to cool room and increased insulation in house so we share the cool load rather than have a room we won't use - it's a bedroom and it's not so comfortable going there. There's so many things we know now that would change how we installed, but I guess that's part of the journey with new stuff. It would have helped to have a board to Austrian users to bleed their knowledge for free...