The “Well Always Runs Dry” Home
“We know the worth of water when the well is dry.”
— Ancient Chinese Proverb
Homeowner experience before Home Energy Solutions
“The 2nd floor of our home is constantly hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Our Geothermal HVAC system runs all the time and can’t keep up, the humidity in our home is excessively high, and our energy bills are too high.”
Summary of Homeowner’s attempts to fix Issues so far before we were hired:
Spent $25,000 on a new in-ground well in an attempt to subsidize the limited domestic water production of the original well
Spent $20,000 on remediation for a “sealed crawlspace” that had not been properly commissioned from the start, all while not being able to properly heat and cool the home because of the limited domestic water supply.
The homeowner was in litigation with the original builder
HES initial home energy consultation:
While meeting with the homeowner, we learned the builder had made promises they were unable to fulfill with the relevant experience and resources they had available to them. This included both the builder’s personal understanding of advanced building systems: an encapsulated roofline, the correct installation of three (3) geothermal heating and cooling HVAC systems, in-ground wells supplying domestic water to the home, and what the builder thought constituted a sealed crawlspace.
Most shocking takeaway is that we learned the homeowner was only able to do laundry in their home at 1:00am in the summer time for the past 2 years!
Our Initial Testing
It did not take long for HES to determine the water shortage was due to the improper evaluation of the site for full functionality with regards to Geothermal Heating and Cooling. Geothermal does not work everywhere in every configuration. Unfortunately for this homeowner, it was both the incorrect sizing of the equipment from improper load calculations, incorrect ducting, and the general configuration of the geothermal heat pump systems that were creating the bulk of the issues. The Geothermal systems were using all of the water from the homeowner’s in-ground well and leaving none for the domestic uses of the home. On the main level, System #1 needed 6 GPM (gallons per minute of water flow) while system #2 for the master suite needed 4 GPM, and upstairs, system #3 needed 4GPM. This comes to 14 GPM just for the geothermal systems.
The in-ground well itself was only rated for 10GPM on the label and a drawdown test was never performed by the original well driller. Aside from never verifying the efficacy of the Geothermal equipment operating with this well, this flow rate doesn’t take into account the toilets, showers, hose spigots, irrigation, and bathroom sinks of the home. Little wonder this homeowner never had sufficient water flow!
The second well (paid for by the homeowner after the builder refused to address the issue), was simply drawing from the same reservoir on the property and was ultimately useless in addressing the issue.
We knew it was a must to first accurately quantify the heating and cooling loads for the home and to compare those values to actual airflows being measured for each supply and return vent in each room. We were able to calculate how much airflow was required for each individual room and were able to size for appropriate ductwork accordingly.
We then performed a thorough evaluation of the presently-installed airflow distribution system (ducts and air handlers) and found egregious discrepancies when compared to best practices.
We also evaluated the crawlspace and had to share the unfortunate news that their $20,000 crawl space remediation had been in vain because the space did not have a defined thermal envelope, nor proper encapsulation. This would continue to result in exacerbated heat losses and gains as well as perpetual humidity issues. This finding further proved against the efficacy of the installed HVAC system.
Home Energy Solutions identified the core causes:
Improper installation of insulation
Sprayed foam insulation is not a “miracle” product. It still requires a competent installer and a competent designer to specify the proper type of foam, in the correct volume, and in the correct locations. Our role in a project lacking all 3 of these was to demonstrate our technical expertise in the matter and to represent my client’s best interests in a court of law.
Improperly functioning and incompatibility of Geothermal HVAC systems; poor/haphazard installation of ductwork
As an expert witness in the Homeowner’s case, Home Energy Solutions was called in to demonstrate what HVAC system should have been installed and why the current system wasn’t functioning properly. We outlined the issues with the in-ground wells not having high enough GPM as well as the incorrect sizing of the equipment.
Our report for the homeowner outlined the exact steps that a qualified builder/contractor would need to take to remedy their issues.
The issue really wasn’t the well. If the house had had heat pumps, the 10GPM could have served the domestic needs of the space just fine. The issue was that the major players involved (i.e. the builder and the HVAC contractor) had neither the experience nor the technical prowess to determine whether or not the Geothermal systems that the Homeowner desired would work in practice for this build. In addition, the equipment was incorrectly sized for the space and the ducted distribution system was installed haphazardly. The selling point for HES, here is that - (while we can certainly identify the root cause of the issues a homeowner may be experiencing after the home is built), using our services initially (and throughout the construction process) would be most-beneficial in avoiding issues down the road. Guiding builders as well as homeowners in making decisions based on building-science that will result in achieving both their desired outcomes, aesthetically as well as good functionality of systems in practice.
The ultimate benefit of working with Home Energy Solutions
Knowledge is power. Home Energy Solutions was able to guide the homeowner on the appropriate remediation steps for long-term sustainable solutions to the problems they had been experiencing for more than 2 years. In the end, the geothermal HVAC systems and all the ductwork of the home had to be completely removed and replaced. We were able to serve as an expert witness and testify to the errancy of the initial installs making us a key ally for our client in their court case.
In the end, our client received more in their settlement because of our testimony.
The biggest takeaway is that neither the builder nor the HVAC contractor had any appreciable knowledge with regards to building systems. They did not understand the insulation strategy the customer desired or what a “conditioned crawlspace” entailed. Ultimately, these poor results manifested themselves and jeopardized my client’s enjoyment of their new custom home.
Fortunately, the homeowner won their case and was ultimately awarded damages in excess of their original complaint because of our testimony calling for higher-end heat pumps and completely new ductwork to be installed to match the variable speed technology (high-end) of the original Geothermal systems.
