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Chesapeake, VA on May 27, 2012

living in area with high iron content in well water & having geothermal heat pumps, i and many others have had retur

wells cease taking water returned from supply side. was told by well driller iron collects on screens at bottom of well causing the clogging ! i asked, but did not receive an answer of (why not eleminate screens & simply leave the 1&1/4 pvc pipe open at very bottom & omit the screen ? after all screen to my knowledge & genereal concensus is to filter sand & or any other trash from entering the (supply wells) am i totally on wrong track? wells are 110 feet deep ! any info will be greatly appreciated. charles

4 Comments

Woodbridge Environmental ... Colonia, NJ

The primary reason for the screens is to prevent the sand and silt from wearing the pump out before its time. Also the silt and sand will build up within the pipes causing a loss in pressure.
My one question would be, is why are you not using a closed loop system? I assume this is an older unit, but these days we do not pull water out and just dump in back into the ground. A closed loop will pick up the heat deliver it to the condenser and then return back into the ground again ...»
to pick up more heat for the system. The water in the loop is filtered and treated so no corrosion takes place. And no worry about drawing out water from the aquifer during periods of drought. We have had wells that were over 300 feet deep run dry during long periods of no rain. I assume you have the same worries in VA as well.
So before you spend to much more money on changing filters and such, look into a closed loop system for your house. Also with that your pump does not have to be buried and you do not have to worry about loosing heat or cooling during droughts.

on May 28, 2012 · Like 0
Charles W Chesapeake, VA

woodbridge enviromental, 1st of all THANK YOU for responding to my question. ok, yes system is old & wells were installed in 1984 & at that time at least in this area thats just how geothermal units were installed (1 supply well & 2 return wells.) i fully understand & SUPPORT THEORY & CONCEPT OF USING SCREEN ON SUPPLY WELL. BUT SEE ABSOLUTELY NO NEED FOR SCREENS ON RETURN WELLS SINCE RETURN WELLS ARE NOT SUPPLYING any WATER TO PUMP, IN VIEW OF THIS INFO WOULD U PLEASE ELABORATE FURTHER. THANKS SINCERELY: CHARLES

on May 28, 2012 · Like 0
Charles W Chesapeake, VA

I need a clarification about a response

on May 28, 2012 · Like 0
Woodbridge Environmental ... Colonia, NJ

Your correct about not needing screens on return side, unless this was a requirement when they were installed. I know of a commercial establishment who used used well water for their cooling system and they had the return water sent to the sewer system in the township at the time. The township required them to filter this water. Why have no idea, but I know we removed these screen filters when we removed the well system and installed a conventional refrigerant cooling system in the ...»
building.
Check with the local code office on this. They may have had a reason for this.
The only other reason for this filter system perhaps was to build up head pressure on the pump system. Do you know how deep the return goes?
I know with the WaterFurnace systems that we are installing now, all have closed loops. But I will do some research on this for you. Do you have the brand and model number of the system you currently have installed now? Let me know. I will get the answer for you.

on May 29, 2012 · Like 0