Jason Murphy
Geothermal systems provide both heating and cooling.
If you have a forced-air geothermal system using a water-to-air geothermal heat pump, simply change your thermostats from heating to cooling mode, and you are done. Forced-air geothermal systems are the easiest to change from heating to cooling mode.
Cooling with Hydronic Geothermal Heat Pumps
If you have a radiant heating system, your hydronic geothermal heat pump provides cooling via high-velocity or low-velocity air handlers.
Step 1: Locate your Hydronic Control Panel
If you have a hydronic system, the first step is to locate your hyrdonic control panel in the mechanical room. You control panel will look like this:
Hydronic Control Panel
Step 2: Determine if you have 1 or 2 Tekmar Controls
The device that tells your heat pump to make either hot or cold water is a Tekmar 152 two stage setpoint control. Your control panel will either have one or two Tekmar controls.
If you have 2 Tekmar controls, you only need to switch your system from heating to cooling mode using either the HEAT/COOL switch located on the control panel or a remote HEAT/COOL switch.
If you have 2 Tekmar controls, switch your system from heat to cool and skip to step 5.
If you only have 1 Tekmar controller, you will need to reprogram this control device to operate in cooling mode. Switch your control panel to the “Standby” or “ Off” position and continue.
Note, if you have a backup boiler for a radiant heating system your configuration might be more complex and you should contact an authorized installer for assistance.
Step 3: Program your Tekmar 152 for Cooling Mode
Locate your Tekmar 152 controller and remove the cover. Your Tekmar 152 will look like this:
Tekmar 152
The Tekmar 152 is a two stage setpoint controller and you will need to program both Setpoint 1 and Setpoint 2. First, press all three buttons to enter program mode and change setpoint (1) to 45.
Push the “item” button to advance to the next screen and change the differential to 10. With the differential set at 10, the heat pump will turn on when the buffer tank reaches 50 and will turn off when the buffer tank reaches 40. A 10 degree differential reduces geothermal heat pump cycle time and conserves electricity.
Press the “item” button and advance to the delay screen. The delay should remain at zero.
Press the “item” button to advance to the Heating / Cooling mode screen. You need to change from HEAT to COOL.
Press the “item” button again to program setpoint (2). Changing setpoint (2) to 120 degrees keeps the electric element in the storage tank from turning on and trying to heat the tank. An alternative is to turn off the breaker that controls heating element.
Press the “item” button to set the differential for setpoint (2) at 10, exactly as you did for Setpoint (1).
Press the “item” button to set the delay for setpoint (2) at zero, exactly as you did for Setpoint (1).
The final step in programming your Tekmar 152 is to make sure the Setpoint (2) mode is set as HEAT. Press the “item” button and advance to the following menu.
Once all of these changes have been made there will be a thirty-second delay before the system registers your changes. Replace the cover on your Tekmar 152 and continue.
Step 4: Turn your Control Panel to Cooling Mode
Locate either the switch on your control panel, or your remote switch, and turn the knob to COOL. After a brief delay, you will heat the geothermal heat pump start and the buffer tank temperature will begin to fall. The current tank temperature will always be displayed on your Tekmar 152.
Step 5: Turn your Thermostats to Cooling Mode
Your zone thermostats control the air handlers. Change all thermostats to “COOL” and choose a desired setpoint. You are now cooling with your geothermal hyrdonic heat pump.
If you have any questions about changing your geothermal system from heating to cooling please call Eagle Mountain technical support at 1-800-572-7831.
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Tags: control panel, geothermal, geothermal equipment, geothermal heat pumps, geothermal systems, high velocity, hydronic system, jason murphy, radiant heating, radiant heating system, tekmar controls, thermostats
