Ryan Carda, P.E. is the author of the International Ground Source Heat Pump’s official design and installation guide. Carda’s Antifreeze Volume Calculator for Geothermal Loopfields free tool is used in his Entry Level Geothermal Professional Certificate Training.
Here’s what the tool looks like:
Uses: This calculator is used to quickly determine how much antifreeze will be needed to reach the target freeze protection level for a given ground loop design. A geothermal ground loop needs to flushed and purged to remove air and debris and then it needs to be filled with antifreeze prior to system startup. We cover this topic in detail in all 4 of our geo courses (Entry Level Geo Professional, Geo Designer Boot Camp, IGSHPA Certified GeoExchange Designer and IGSHPA Accredited Geo Installer courses).
Who should download the tool: It can be used by anyone who has oversight of or is directly involved in the installation of a geothermal ground loop, which includes system designers, ground loop commissioning agents and installation contractors alike.
The consequences of incorrectly measuring antifreeze volume: Inadequate freeze protection levels in a geothermal system would prevent the system from functioning properly in heating mode, which would lead to unnecessary service calls.
More about Ryan Carda, P.E.: Ryan is a Mechanical Engineer at Geo Pro, Inc., co-founder of Geo-Connections, Inc., and co-author of “Design and Installation of Residential and Light Commercial GSHP Systems”, developed in cooperation with the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association (IGSHPA). Ryan graduated with his Master of Science degree in Engineering from South Dakota State University in 2006.
Courses Ryan Currently teaches:
- Free Course: High Performance Building and HVAC 101 / Online / July 20 – August 7, 2015
- IGSHPA Geothermal Installer Certification Training / Online / August 10 – September 18, 2015
- Entry Level Geothermal Professional Certificate Training / Online / August 10 – September 11, 2015
- Geothermal Designer Boot Camp + LoopLink Certification / Online / September 14 – October 24, 2015
- IGSHPA Certified GeoExchange Designer (CGD Plus) Training / Online / September 28 – December 4, 2015
- Geothermal Driller Master Class / Online / October 5 – November 13, 2015