Last week on our blog, we addressed why fall maintenance is such a vital task for your home heating system, even in a place with as mild winters as we experience in Florida.
But if you use a geothermal heat pump to provide warmth to your home during the winter, you might think that a fall inspection and tune-up isn’t necessary every year. Let us assure you that it is: most of your geothermal system is buried under the ground of your property, putting it out of your sight, but that doesn’t mean it’s safe from wear and tear and other kinds of damage.
The heat pump components
First off, heat pumps of any kind need to receive twice-yearly maintenance, once in spring and once in fall. It doesn’t matter if the heat pump is a standard air-source model or a geothermal (ground-source) one: the stress that it undergoes during the long summer makes it necessary to check up on it before it starts its work during the winter.
Keep in mind that for a geothermal system, half of the equipment is located inside your home, and these parts are almost identical to the components found in an air source heat pump: motors, refrigerant coil, capacitors, filters, plus a heat exchanger where the water from the underground coils transfers its heat into the refrigerant of the indoor heat pump. These parts wear down at the same rate as a regular heat pump, and so they need to have the same amount of maintenance attention.
The ground loops
Although the loops that access the heat underground are highly durable and should last more than 50 years, they also require regular attention from technicians to make sure they aren’t developing leaks. If you have an open-loop system that uses water from an outside source in the loops, the system may occasionally need an acid flush to remove deposits that can build up inside it.
Kool Breeze of Northwest Florida, Inc. offers top quality geothermal heating and cooling services in Ft. Walton Beach, FL. Call us today to arrange for annual fall maintenance.