Raypack Heater won't light

Laenini

0
LifeTime Supporter
Aug 7, 2008
121
Brooklyn Park, MN
Hi Everyone!
I'm an old regular around here, but I haven't owned a pool for several years now so I have't been stopping by. Recently thought I bought a house with an existing in ground pool, my very first as my old pools were both AGPs. So I am excited to say the least! I got the pool open and everything is looking good so far, except that I can't seem to light the pilot on the pool heater. Its a Raypack unit, older and looks just like a bigger version of my old Hayward H100 heater. My old heater though had an igniter, and this heater has an old school pilot light system.

Picture of My Current Heater

Picture of directions inside heater case describing how to light pilot

Mechanism with the gas control knob that must be turned to "pilot" setting during lighting procedure

I believe I know where my problem is. The lighting directions say to turn the gas control knob to the "pilot" setting, but the knob only shows 2 settings, "on" and "off". There is no "pilot" setting listed! I know the heater works because the pool company who came out and helped me open the pool got the heater lit and running the day there were here. The pilot went out though and I was even warned that the pilot goes out easily on this type of heater. I think if I understood where to turn the knob, I could then carefully follow the rest of the directions and this thing would light up just fine! I just don't understand how to set the knob to make it all happen.

Any advice is appreciated!
Leanne
 
Wow, my sig is old and obsolete. I will fix that up ASAP

***Sig is now up to date*** I bought a house with a 20 year old pool already existing in the backyard. Some details about the pool l'm learning as I go along as the previous owners aren't very available to answer questions as they come up. I will continue to improve the sig as I learn more.
 
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First, make sure that the heater is set to Off on the control panel.

The pilot position is about 30 to 45 degrees clockwise from the Off position. You can see two lines in the diagram.

If you start with the knob in the Off position, rotate the knob about 30 degrees counterclockwise until you can depress the knob.

Once you depress the knob, gas should begin to flow and you will need to light the pilot right away. You should be able to hear gas flowing when you depress the knob.

If you can't get it lit right away, release the knob so that it pops back up and turn the knob to Off. Walk away for a few minutes to allow the gas to dissipate before trying again. If you try to light the pilot with gas buildup in the heater, it will flash back at you.

When turning the knob, you might need to depress it slightly at certain positions to make it move. Don't force it. If it won't rotate, push down slightly and it should rotate.

Once the pilot lights, continue to hold the knob down for 1 minute. Then release and rotate the knob to On.

Verify that the pilot remains lit.

Wait 1 minute and then turn the heater to on.

Note: Working with gas can be dangerous and you should not do it if you have any doubt about your ability to do it safely.

There should be a valve outside of the heater next to the heater. Make sure that it's on. If you have any doubt about operating the heater, turn the valve off and call a technician.
 
Ok, I have made some progress! I was able to light the pilot light. I can't see the light as its buried inside a lighting "tube" although I heard the distinctive "whoosh" sound gas appliances make when they light. Something is still wrong though as I don't get to a place where I start feeling heat on the outside of the heater housing like I expect to feel. The pump was running and I could feel the vibration of water running through the heater, I know there is a safety switch that shuts the heater down if there isn't any flow of water through the unit, so that isn't the problem. Even with the cover off the heater I can't see if the burner is igniting as the burner seems to be enclosed. I have updated pictures to share:

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Here is the interior plate showing the model number for anyone interested.

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This picture shows the top controls with the toggle switch set to "on" and the dial turned up high, this is what I set the unit to after getting the pilot to initially light.

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Here is the pilot lighting tube

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And here is the gas control knob set to the "on" position.

Considering that I know I got the pilot to light, yet I still could not get any heat out of the heater, I am thinking that there is something wrong with the unit and I'm about ready to call a repair guy out. I'm afraid that due to obvious age their knee jerk reaction is going to be stating that this heater isn't worth fixing. The trouble is that I've spent more money than I should have lately and I'm feeling the pain of it! I really don't want to have to replace this unit this year if it can be helped.

Again, I am grateful for all comments!
 
ok, I just went out and tried it again. Its dark outside now and I can see that the pilot *IS LIT* when I finish the above steps. So I turn the gas to on, turn on the switch on the top, and turn up the thermostat, and then there is NOTHING. The burners don't seem to light and no heat comes out of the unit. So something must be broken?? In Minnesota a pool heater is almost mandatory. Our swimming season is so short, and without a heater its even shorter. Thoughts anyone on what might be wrong with this unit besides USER ERROR?? :)
 
@JamesW I will take a few more pictures of my whole equipment pad in the daylight tomorrow. Thanks for following and being so helpful! The pilot has been lit for over 30 minutes now, but no heat coming from the unit that I can feel. I'm assuming that the case will be at least warm if not hot while its running? And warm water will come out of the return jets? Those things are not happening.. :(
 

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OMG, it finally lit!!! My pump is on a timer, 12 hours running, and 12 hours off. It starts at noon each day and turns off at midnight. Since I left the heater "on" with the pilot lit, I went out after midnight and threw the switch to keep water running through the heater. When the water pushed back through the heater, the darn thing lit right up like it was supposed to!

Now I wish I could say that it is running just fine now, but it still isn't. It ran over night long enough to raise the water temp from 70 degrees to 78 degrees, then it went off and won't come back on again. Could there be some sort of vapor lock issue going on that cleared when the pump shut down and then restarted? I'm quite tempted to go out and shut down my pump and restart it to see what happens...
 
@JamesW I think you are right. I do have eyeballs that are pointed downwards right now and are fully open, and I backwashed the filter. The heater popped right on once I restarted the pump after the backwash. So is this heater just temperamental? Or is this a sign that it needs some adjustments or replacement parts?
 
@JamesW I think you are right. I do have eyeballs that are pointed downwards right now and are fully open, and I backwashed the filter. The heater popped right on once I restarted the pump after the backwash. So is this heater just temperamental? Or is this a sign that it needs some adjustments or replacement parts?

I would jump out the pressure switch and see if the unit will light every time you turn it on. If it does, it would make sense that the switch is going bad. Don't leave it jumped out. Just get a new one and replace it.
 
I have similar RAYPAK and I love it. Newer: w/ Electronic Ignition. I only heat the Jacuzzi spa closed loop when the flow to the pool is closed. I had the Teledyne LAARS before and it was nothing but trouble, both pilot light and a second newer electronic version. The guy who installed assured me it was better than Teledyne LAARS, he was correct.
 
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