What problems can be caused by poor water quality?
Poor water quality can cause serious problems in open-loop systems. Your water should be tested for hardness, acidity and iron content before a heat pump is installed. Your contractor or equipment manufacturer can tell you what level of water is acceptable. Mineral deposits can build up inside the heat pump’s heat exchanger. Sometimes a periodic cleaning with a mild acid solution is all that is needed to remove the build-up. Impurities, particularly iron, can eventually clog a return well. If your water has a high iron content, be sure that the discharge water is not aerated before it is injected into a return well. Finally, you should opt against using water from a spring, pond, lake or river as a source for your heat pump system unless it is proven to be free of excessive particles and organic matter. They can clog a heat pump system and make it inoperable in a short time.
Poor water quality can cause serious problems in open-loop systems. Your water should be tested for hardness, acidity and iron content before a heat pump is installed. Your contractor can tell you what level of water quality is acceptable. Mineral deposits can build up inside the heat pump’s heat exchanger. Sometimes a periodic cleaning with a mild acid solution is all that’s needed to remove the build-up. Impurities, particularly iron, can eventually clog a return well. If your water has a high iron content you should be sure that the discharge water is not aerated before it’s injected into a return well.
Poor water quality can be a serious issue. Always make sure you get your water tested which can be done by a certified installer for hardness, acidity and iron content before installing an open loop system. You also want to be sure there will be no organic matter or excessive particles that will flow through the loops; this can clog up the heat pump, making it not work. Mineral deposits can also build up inside the heat pump exchanger. You can easily remove the build up with mild acid solution. But impurities like iron can eventually clog a return well. If your water has a high iron count, make sure that the discharged water is not exposed before it is injected into a return well.
Poor water quality can cause serious problems in open loop systems. Your water should be tested for hardness, acidity and iron content before a heat pump is installed. Your contractor or equipment manufacturer can tell you what level of water is acceptable. Mineral deposits can build up inside the heat pump’s heat exchanger. Sometimes a periodic cleaning with a mild acid solution is all that’s needed to remove the build-up. Impurities, particularly iron, can eventually clog a return well. If your water has high iron content, make sure that the discharge water is not aerated before it’s injected into a return well. What is a closed loop system? A closed loop system uses a continuous loop of buried polyethylene pipe. The pipe is connected to the indoor heat pump to form a sealed, underground loop through which an environmentally friendly antifreeze-and-water solution is circulated. A closed loop system constantly re-circulates its heat-transferring solution in pressurized pipe, unlike an
Poor water quality can cause serious problems in open loop systems. Your water should be tested for hardness, acidity and iron content beforean open loop heat pump is installed. Your contractor or equipment manufacturer can tell you what quality of water is acceptable. Mineral deposits can build up inside the heat pump’s heat exchanger. Sometimes a periodic leaning with a mild acid solution is all that’s needed to remove the build-up. Where well water does not meet the requirements for an open loop geothermal system, a closed loop would be used.
