I have a climatemaster also and my compressor stopped coming on. I had the company that installed it 6 years ago troubleshoot it. He installed a kickstart kit on the compressor and it worked for about a day. I called back the next day because the compressor was really noisy and no heat was coming out. Now I have a bad compressor and the repair is 1600.00. Of course the warranty is 5 years so Im thinking of a new unit or replacing the compressor. What should I do?

Re: jackherrick

Your compressor problem is likely only a secondary symptom. The primary problem needs to be addressed in order to restore reliable service to the compressor. I base this observation on the fact that your compressor has run up till now for 6 years. So what changed causing your compressor to fail? This change is likely at the core of your problem. A compressor in a geothermal heat pump should have a life expectancy of about 20 years  not 6!

If your tech is only looking at the compressor, measuring high & low pressures of the refrigerant, current draw etc., then itÂs time to change companies as this will likely result in the new compressor failing as well.

An even more fundamental question; is your system opened or closed loop? If opened loop, is there mineral or biological residue that needs to be purged from the liquid/refrigerant loop heat exchanger? HowÂs your well(s) and aquifer?

The tech has to examine the system as a whole. Is the air filter clogged? WhatÂs the liquid flow rate through the HP, EWP, LWP, EWT, LWT, EAT, LAT, etc.? Did your installer provide you with a log of ALL start-up data?

Basically, what I saying is this shouldnÂt have occurred. So what happened; what change?

You need a detailed log of ALL your system parameters during installation and at start-up as a base line and after ALL repairs for comparison. All geothermal equipment owners must learn to DEMAND this! Any resistance on the part of the installer should result in an immediate change of installer/service provider  with written notification to the heat pump manufacturer! As a competent installer I WANT to provide clients with a detailed log of start-up procedures as my proof to the owner, or anyone else for that matter, that I did my job right. This may even include a CD with jpg pics of every vital instrument reading as well as the entire installation process including visual proof of borehole depths.

IMO

SR

I have good answers to these problems. Most of them are in the manual. I Work for a product support group for computer room aC units alot like the climate master system. I also have a tranquility 27. The compressor was loud, which is typical of a scroll compressor, especially for the first few min. of run time. You can fill the compressor compartment with insulation. The refrigerant from the evap cools the compressor, so there is no need to worry about overheating. Also, make sure you have flex duct on the supply and return. If not the sound will resonate through the duct. 3rd, install corning acoustic liner in the supply duct. This gets placed inside the duct just near the unit. It absorbs sound and eliminates the vibrations. These will help, but not eliminate the sound completely. The only way to do that would be a split, where the compressor is outside, which climate master does offer. The guy is right about the failed compressor after 6 years. A copeland scroll should last much longer than 6 years. Theere is an underlying problem that should be easy to diagnose. Most likely a refrigeration issue like superheat or condensing issues. Could also be a cycling issue where the compressor cycles much to often. These are just come issues Ive seen with our scroll units and wanted to pass on the info !

mac

I have an Econar GT heat pump in a second floor closet and had noise issues that were aweful. It turned out to be improper vibration dampening when the system was installed.

The scroll compessors run between 50 and 60 cycles per second. The 3 stage fan in my 3 ton GT unit runs in the 1100 to 1800 RPM range (or 18 to 30 cycles per second).

The guys who did the install laid the GT unit on the floor and put a rubber mat under the base. That mat became essentailly a vibration noise amplifier. I found that rubber can isolate very high frency vibs - not the lower frequnecies. The rubber is recommended at a minimum of 45 Hz - but it really doesn't work well until you get above 60.

I know this is the case becuase my loop pumps in the basement run at 60 Hz and they are on rubber mats too - no vibration noise (there is acoustical noise from the impellar spinning - but that has to be dampened by other means).

My solution was to jack up the unit - get if off the floor by 5 inches or so - and put vibration isolation mounts with springs on each of the 4 corners. These springs can dampen vibs down to a few Hz and up to 60Hz - they are much more effective then rubber in the frequnecy range of the unit. That fixed the problem.

You can still hear the unit for the first 3 to 5 seconds after it first turns on - but once it is in steady state, it purrs. No louder than the hum of a refrigerator. My builder and HVAC contractor were stunned - appranetly they have this same issue in other houses they built with GT where people cannot sleep (but never told me that when they sold me the GT)! I think they owe me one.

Your issue sounds similar to mine. Can you describe how the unit was installed - where it is, what is it resting on? What type of floor is it on - is it in a closet? Is the closet insulated?

The site I used to but these products is www.acousticalsurfaces.com. Look under Vibration Mounts and then look under Housed Spring Mounts. The product is made by Mason Industries and needs to be chosen carefully based on your units corner weight.

You need to determine if the noise you are hearing is acoustic noise or vibration noise. If it is acoustic noise - then you can use sound proofing insulation. If it is vibration noise - then you need dampeners. I used both - the walls of the room have insulation to dampen acoustic noise. The springs dampen vibration noise.

to sniffdog, do the springs go under the complete unit or just the compressor? I have tried all I know and can't quiet it down--- a pulsating kind of rumbling from the compressor. It is a 3.5T unit geo in my basement w/ copeland 2 speed scroll. Seems quieter on high than on low. Thanks----rick

We had a Bosch TA061 5-ton system installed in February and it's a nightmare.
The low pulsing from the Copeland compressor is driving us nuts! The Bosch rep says the noise is "within tolerance".
Their literature boasts "quiet operation". Their tech says 60+ decibel is quiet. It might be quiet compared to others, but from my reading, people consider an environment quiet around 40 dec.
My installer has put in more than 30 hours trying to attenuate the low throbbing as well as the high-pitched whine coming through the registers (not compressor related) without much success. Flex duct, canvas "breaks" between the plenum and the ductwork have reduced the vibration into the ducts, but the noise travels up anyway.
Unfortunately, I drywalled our basement ceiling so I can't get to the ductwork to put insulation inside it. Maybe I need to tear out the ceiling and insulate the ducts. A big, messy job.
Our next step is to yank the compressor out of the unit and put it into the garage, which is a run of 50'. Also, add a muffler and anti-vibration hardware to the lines leaving the compressor.
Of course, Bosch says that will void the warranty on this $6,000 unit. I'm between a rock and a hard place because we already spent $3,500 in excavation costs for the geo pit, $1,000 to upgrade electrical service and a couple thousand for installing this unit. And $10,000 for the new backup propane generator we need for this new geo-thermal.
My wife's ready to just yank the thing out and torch $25,000 and go back to a regular propane furnace like we had.
Does anyone have any better ideas than to yank the compressor and void the warranty?
How can people be OK with this throbbing, pulsing base note added to their lives? It's like have a gangbanger blasting his car stereo next to you at a red traffic light, except the light never changes!
How could Bosch or any other company think it's a good idea to put a compressor into a home? Are they installing 5-ton air conditioners inside houses now? No, they are not because compressors belong outside!

We have two 3 ton Waterfurnace geothermal units in our basement, and if you're standing right beside them with both running, you can barely hear them. They are very quiet, and are right under our den, where we spend 90% of our time, other than sleeping....

The 2-solutions that I see are either installing another brand mono block HP like a Waterfurnace in the same place as the Bosch - after you hear one in operation or go to another brand, again such as Waterfurnace but a âÂÂSplitâ configuration. Variable speed air handler such as a Carrier Infinity FE series or Infinity propane gas and install the geo HP somewhere else where it will not bother you.

SR

Djg58, I was wondering if you had any resolution to your geo pump noise? We are experiencing the same problem with two pumps installed in the basement, in the center of the house. It makes this obnoxious, pulsating noise throughout the first floor, which is the bedroom floor. We've installed an interior sound insulating thing supplied by Climatemaster, as well as a "quiet room" around the pumps. Nothing helps reduce the low pitched, pulsating noise.

Could this be caused by bad installation? I ask because the HVAC guy is a moron. We've just had all the pipes in the basement replaced because they have been leaking all winter. One leaked onto the main control panel of the geo system, shorted it out and left us without heat in -7 degree weather. They did not do heat loss calculations by room, so all the in floor heat tubing is the same throughout the house. That's fine in some houses, but we have some small rooms with a lot of windows, so three rooms are unable to heat themselves. We've burned through three tanks of propane since October because the backup heat is constantly on to heat these three rooms. The worst room needs to be completely redone, tearing out the Gypcrete and starting over with more tubing, new Gypcrete and new flooring. The tiled areas between the geo pumps and these three rooms has all this disgusting efflorescence because of the high temperature required to try to heat the rooms. To summarize, the HVAC is a disaster and I would not be the least bit surprised if the geo pump noise is caused by poor installation.

Re: pumpkin house

This is a very old thread. You should start a new one.

SR

I would start a new thread but I did a search and this thread described our problem well. Plus when folks bring up an old topic in a new post, they get told to do a search of old threads.