Given the current prices for fuel oil and propane, and current state and federal incentive programs, many homeowners are asking heating contractors to replace their aging boilers with a geothermal heat pump system.

Can you spot at least 5 causes for concern among these three photos? If so, what would you do to correct them?

An installer is asked to provide a 4-ton-rated (48,000 Btu/h) geothermal heat pump system that can provide space heating and domestic hot water.

Because the price of fuel oil has increased dramatically over the last several months, an installer with lots of experience in installing conventional oil-fired boilers is asked to install a pellet-fired boiler.

Imagine that you, an independent heating pro, have been asked to inspect this system because the owner is claiming it doesn’t deliver sufficient heat on cold days.

A technician installs a system to provide domestic hot water to a high end house with several bathrooms. Can you spot at least five details that are incorrect, and recommend how to fix this situation? 

A heating pro is asked to retrofit a pellet-fired boiler to an existing distribution system consisting of older cast iron radiators, iron piping and an oil-fired boiler.

An installer is asked to add a monobloc-style air-to-water heat pump to an existing hydronic system that is supplied by a mod/con boiler.

A technician encounters a system installed in the 1980s when radiant floor heating was relatively new in North America.