undersized loops
Yes, frequently installers try to cut expense by undersizing the loop, this causes the system to fail when demand is high, unfortunately there are a lot of installers that were never formally trained in design, they just read a book and decided it was easy to add geothermal to their business. So to put it plainly, there are more bad installers out there than good ones. 99% of the mistakes in a Geothermal system are in the well (Loop).
Geothermal can be retrofitted to a hot water system, you just don't get the air conditioning benefits. Its referred to as a water to water geothermal heat pump.
NH lakes cannot be used, no because it is not viable, but because the State will not permit it. All properly installed geothermal systems in NH will have a drilled well, and this is usually also the potable water well, despite the postings people have put here saying you can't use it for your water well, that is not true, we recommend you use it for the water well if the well produces enough water. Systems that were installed with a ground loop in NH will fail, this is only supposed to be used for areas that do not fall below 30 degrees often, or areas where only cooling is needed, this is why it is common in Florida, but ground loops should never be done in NH unless you only want cooling. Unfortunately there are installers out there that do this because it is less expensive, but it is not the right way to do it and is why they use back up heat. If a system is designed properly, back up heat is not needed at all.
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