Nyle Geyser HWHP problems

[egghead2004]

I have had a Geyser since 2010. It has saved me thousands on oil costs and electric savings in the summer now I don't have to run a dehumidifyer.
However in the last month, I keep running out of hot water. The Geyser is going into overload every few minutes. After a couple of hours the unit locks out and I have to manually recycle the power switch.
I sent the below info to Nyle this morning, but want to hit up the forum for some advice as well.



I did some more troubleshooting.. First, I have attached a short video of the error code. Steady red - off - flash-off- steady red, I'm guessing due to either high current or high pressure cut out.

I removed the unit and cleaned the inside including the fan. There really wasn't much dust in there.
I put the unit on the floor and filled up a 5 gallon bucket on a table above the unit with the hoses fastened so no air would enter the system while heating the water.

Here are some results.

00:00 - 55 F water turned on united, verified water was flowing. Unit drawing 4 amps, slowly rising
32:00 - Pump and compressor shut off, fan runs. Water = 76F, Unit was drawing 7 amps when it shut off.
42:00 - Pump and compressor turn on. Burst of very hot water comes out of hose. 5.5 amps
55:00 - Pump and compressor shut off, fan runs. Water = 99F, Unit was drawing 7 amps when it shut off.
1:05:00 - Pump and compressor turn on. Burst of very hot water comes out of hose. 5.5 amps.
1:05:00 - Measured temp coming out of hose with insta thermometer. 120F burst, then settled at 103F.
1:17:00 - Pump and compressor shut off, fan runs. Water = 116F, Unit was drawing 7 amps.
2:26:00 - Water temp up to 125F, heat cycle now down to less than 10 minutes.

This recycling continues on and on but with shorter heating intervals as the water temp gets higher.

I know the amperage is rising due to higher head pressure in the compressor, the question is why is it rising? One thing that I noticed was that after the 10 minute idle time pump and compressor turned on again a burst of super heated water comes out. To me this indicates that the heat exchanger is holding a lot of heat. I also know that higher temperatures on the condenser side of an AC system directly correlates to high head pressure which leads to high amperage.

At this point it seems to me one possibility is that some of the water capillaries may have a coating of crud on them in the heat exchanger and the water is not cooling the condenser quick enough causing the temps to rise, which makes the head pressure rise.

That's where I am now, any ideas?
Is there a recommended way to flush out the heat exchanger?

Thanks,








-----------------------------------------

From: "Nyle Service Department"
To:
Cc:
Sent: Thu, 31 Mar 2016 09:21:34 -0400
Subject: Re: Geyser R Heat Pump Water heater kicks out on overload.

Hi Dane
How many times does the red light flash? That will indicate what the problem is.
Regards Stan

Stan Krahn
Nyle Small Kiln Sales & Service Department
NYLE SYSTEMS, LLC
[email protected]
Ph: www.nyle.com
Visit our Kiln Store


On Wed, Mar 30, 2016 at 4:10 PM, <[email protected]> wrote:
Good afternoon,

I purchased the Geyser water heater in 2010, it has been excellent at heating my water and cooling/drying my finished basement, until recently. In the past month, the unit runs for about 10 minutes then the compressor shuts off and a red light flashes. The unit will come back on after about 10 minutes and repeat this cycle four of five times then just shut down totally. I have to turn the power switch off and on to reset.

Steps I have taken:

Cleaned the filter (evaporator coil is clean and undamaged)
Flushed out the water line. The first 4 gallons of the water was brown, but that cleared. Nothing plugged.
Cleaned the 8" return and supply ducts. Only dust was in there, no obstructions.

Any thoughts on further troubleshooting?

Thanks,
Dane

 

[woodgeek]

You answered your own question. In a HP compressor, the mechanical load is a function of the refrigerant temperature (and thus vapor pressure). To my amateur eyes, this looks to me like how compressors die. Their bearings go (or lose lubricant), friction increases, and they either start to electrically overload or seize. Don't know about the Geyser in detail, but many HPs use a soluble lubricant that circulates with the refrigerant and which collects in an accumulator, and which then runs from there to the bearings.

 

[egghead2004]

So I noticed some slimy residue inside the hose connections. I changed the water in the bucket and added some Oxyclean (Oxyclean was the safest cleanser I had on hand). Immediately I noticed a difference.

00:00 - Water temp 53F
42:00 - Compressor and pump cut out, temp 103F ( much better results)
52:00 - Compressor and pump start
1:04:00 - Compressor and pump cut out, temp 115F
The heat cycles dropped to 9 minutes and I was able to eventually get the water temp up to 125F after 1 1/2 hours rather than 2 1/2 hours.

The unit is connected again and cleaning the slime out has made a difference, but not enough to keep the unit running steady.

I wonder if there is some harder scale built up in the heat exchanger. So at this point I am searching for a safe scale remover for the Geyser heat exchanger.

If that doesn't work, I am going to buy a new unit. Yes it is $900, but I save $600 to $1000 per year on oil depending on oil prices. Then another $200 or more on electricity not having to run a dehumidifier all summer.

 

[maple1]

Any more back & forth with Nyle? Thinking they should have some input for the scale & cleaning issues? I would think that an issue like that wouldn't exactly be rare & they should have some tips for it.

 

[egghead2004]

Yes, Nyle has recommended Rydlyme from Apex. It is a non toxic biodegradable descaler. They have been very responsive.
I'll give that a try.

 

[tom in maine]

If the unit is dead, check (broken link removed)