Earthlinked Technologies Geothermal & House with 6 Heating Systems!

ChrisWilliams2

Hi I am looking at buying a house that has radiant hot water floor heat and also has 2 earth linked technologies geothermal heating systems. The seller made this system sound very exciting until I heard they had not used it for 10 years but they would guarantee to get it up and running. The house also has a Munchkin propane fired boiler that seems to be easily heating the hose which is about 4k sq feet.

The more I look at this system the worse it gets and the company seems to be out of business.

My problem is that there loop design is specific to their systems so now I am in a bad spot where if they can't get it fixed they aren't going to just be able to change the pumps but the loops are probably corroded out after years of non-use.

Any tips or ideas about this company or advice?

ethicalpaul

Yikes I just googled it. Sounds like a common failure was refrigerant leaks in the buried copper lines. I love technology but this doesn’t sound good. 

I don’t know how they can possibly promise to get it running. A single pinhole leak anywhere in the buried lines would render it unusable.

nightmare scenario is if the system gets ruled hazardous waste that has to be remediated after you own it. I have no idea how likely that might be

Jamie Hall

The odds of there not being a leak in the underground lines are close to zero. So are the odds of getting it running...

heathead

I would not buy the house with the hopes of the geo system working. I would ask them about what the past two years utility bills. That is what you can expect with the boiler. If they could have used the system because it was more cost effective or comfortable why wouldn't they have? The floor system is hopefully hooked up to the boiler.

ChrisWilliams2

Sadly its a very nice home built by a big plumber with radiant floor heating (looks good) and 4 heating systems. No typo. Plus 2 Rinnai tankless hot water tanks Propane boiler (munchkin) this is main heater now Wood Fired Boiler NY, Weil McClein Oil and this earthlink geothermal. Problem is the wood wired boiler is useless to me, I was hoping to remove everything but the geothermal and propane system. Sadly its a heavily plumbed house, tons of controls and parts look very well installed, others not so much and the overall reasoning for it don't make a lot of sense. Now I am in a difficult situation since the geo system won't end up working and the seller will likely say oh well, and I might just have to walk away. The house would have been much better with 2 munchkins and the radiant floor heating. All the other stuff could go in the trash can.

Jamie Hall

If you really like the place, lowball it and point out that the Earthlink system and the wood boiler are liabilities, not assets (which is the truth) -- which will probably annoy the homeowner, who probably put them in thinking he or she was being ahead of the curve and Doing The Right Thing. And yours just might be the only offer he gets...

SeanHuba

Our Earthlinked system lasted 5 years, of which all but the first winter were just pain and suffering. We ended up ripping it out and putting in natural gas heating. Getting the nat gas heating system was like being released from prison after dealing with Earthlinked and their incompetent installer. At one point, when their installer stopped answering emails and phone calls, we got another pro to look at the system who couldn't believe how badly botched the install was and explained a half dozen glaring errors. I wrote that to Earthlinked, and got an answer from their LEGAL department that my warranty was now null and void, since another person looked at the system. Stay away.

TAG

They say on the web site that they have never had a field leak .... ??