Infloor Heating And The Well Runs Dry

[lauraweaver]

I have Wirsbo in-floor heating powered by Grundfos pumps.

My well went dry last winter while the pumps were running, and the symptom was that the Grundfos pump was hot and loud. After that (when I got water back), in-floor heating didn't work.

We replaced the Grundfos, but it still got hot and loud. We suspect that air-bleed off was frozen due to the hard water, and when the new pump was installed, the pressure was high due to the air and no water moved and the pumps overheated again. Does this sound right?

Questions:

1. Is there anything I can add to my setup to make it more fault-tolerant for cases where the well runs dry?

2. Any special process we should follow when replacing the Grundfos pump to make the system operational again?

3. Are the other pumps I should try (other than Grundfos) that might be better for this situation?

 

[alhurley]

don't know a thing about your heating, but have dealt with wells. are doing anything to filter or otherwise treat this water before it gets into the heat system?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Finnegan]

Does your potable hot water run through your radiant heating system?

 

[Gary Slusser]

Your heating system should be a closed loop system so as to not use potable water or contaminate the potable water, assuming you use well water in the house. If a closed loop, then the well going dry shouldn't have any effect on the heating side.

Since the heating hasn't been operational since the problem, I suspect you have a leak somewhere in the heating system. That would cause the well to go dry due to use of makeup water from the well, due to the leaking heating plumbing. I'd try a pressure test of the heating system to see if there is a leak.

Gary
Quality Water Associates

 

[Finnegan]

I agree with Gary that the situation he described could have caused the problem. If that is the case though, you should have a major leak in your radiant system that should have revealed itself last season. A leak that is capable of draining your well would result in a large amount of water ending up where it does not belong.