We have had a small leak of coolant in our geothermal direct exchange airconditioning system for about 4 years which the service company could never locate on any of the exposed pipes or units. It recently started leaking faster and the company tested all the pipes and determined it was in all three of the ground loops. It is still under warranty but the manufacturer says it must have been caused by a lightning strike and won't cover replacement. The insurance company wants the pipes to be evaluated physically to determine proof of strike. Our pipes go 100 feet into the ground and we were unable to extract them. Question: have you heard of anything like this happening before and do you have any suggestions on how to either extract the pipes of prove lightning strike.

You are caught between a rock and a hard place.

Be proactive and remove whatever pipes necessary. It will be at your expense until you find out who is going to be paying by whatever proof you find. Then present them with the bill for removal along with the repair bill.

They say these type units save on utility bill BUT the high initial cost along with the type of problems you are having now makes them worthless energy savers to me. This is why my company never sold this design since I never wanted to have to look at my customers face and tell them it was going to be a 15,000.00 repair.

If your geothermal loop lines are leaking water and you have a 25 or 50 year warranty on the loop its self, I think its time for the hvac company to step up and prove its not their fault. Its not uncommon for a loop to start leaking, rocks can rub into the lines over time, that's the reason why you bed it with sand or soft fill. Your leak may be in the header ditch but it will need to be doug up to find out. Its going to have to be doug up any way to fix the problem. If your hvac company did their job right you will have a tracer wire to locate the loop lines along with a loop layout print. You can pull the lines up from the wells 10 feet at a time using a backhoe and a rope, after pressure testing each well to find out wich one is leaking. Good luck with your task.