Hayward Code HF, IF. Heater won't stay on.

[Flys-Lo]

My heater is working perfectly. My neighbor's is not. He's got a 2 year old Hayward H250FDN. It has worked 2 months so far this summer with no issue but in the last few days it's not been working. Here is what it does:

Water temperature displayed is 80.
Heater set to 85.
I can hear it ignite and burners fire up.
It runs for 10 seconds at most and shuts down.
Error code HF displays.
After a minute or two it begins again showing temperature and goes through the above steps again.
Occasionally we'll see an IF code but that's only been once or twice.

What I've done:
Cleaned ignitor (heater worked for 36 hours then same as above)
Replaced ignitor with new (did not fix)
Replaced gas valve (did not fix)
Checked and rechecked gas lines (did not fix)

Next up might be replacing the ICB? Before this all started he saw what he called smoke bellowing out from the back every time the heater fired. I didn't witness it but he mentioned it after the problem above started.

Any thoughts on what to try? The heater is barely 2 years old and he's frustrated that with what he's bought so far and an ICB purchase he's getting closer and closer to the cost of replacing the complete heater.

 

[ps0303]

These little buggers are expensive if you try to repair them yourself. If you hire a tech, they will only charge you for the part that's bad. But, in your case you are going to need to get the other board(s) to see if that resolves the issues.

I can tell you from experience that HF could be the gas valve or the ICB. In your case you already replaced the gas valve so then the next thing would be the board.

HF - Flame present with gas valve “OFF” error. If flame is sensed with the gas valve off the control will go into lockout. The blower will run until error condition is corrected. When corrected, control will run blower for 5 seconds then automatically restart after 2 minutes.

 

[Flys-Lo]

Thank you for the response. My neighbor (with the heater problem) called the gas company as he suspected the gas lines might be a source of the problem. They didn't find a leak but mentioned that his gas meter is too small for everything at the home. Seems strange to me as nothing has changed since the new heater was installed 2 years ago and it has worked fine up until a few weeks ago. That said, they're replacing the meter so we'll see if that has any affect.

 

[ps0303]

This is why you hire a person that can check the gas pressure at the heater. It is strange that if nothing has changed since putting the heater in that all of a sudden this happens.

 

[Flys-Lo]

No offense but I am here because I don't care to hire a tech. The "techs" in my area are few and far between and our experiences with the ones that do service this area are less than desired. Padded bills, charges for work not performed and insane hourly rates have forced me into becoming a pool DIY'r and to join forums just like this. If the answers I get here are all going to be "Go hire a tech" then sadly I will not find much value with this group.

 

[ps0303]

Don't get me wrong about DIY folks but when you get into areas like measuring gas pressure, a professional is best to hire.

I have seen many DIY folks that almost blew themselves up in doing something they shouldn't have. There was a guy here very recently that has a post about how he bypassed the safeties on his unit and forgot all about it and one day he woke up to find the heater completely destroyed and a portion of the siding on his house melted because the heater stayed on when the pump shut off.

Hayward Heater Pilot Problem

There are some things you really need a professional to do.

 

[danpik]

Flys-lo, I can appreciate your enthusiasm for doing things yourself. This is the reason most forums like this one exist. either people can't afford to pay someone or can't find reliable service for the money they pay out. For the most part the maint of pools is pretty much straight forward. But, as Paul eluded to, you need to know your limits. Pressure testing gas lines may seem like an easy job, but to do it properly requires the right equipment and knowledge of what you are expecting to see. As far as doing this for someone else, no way would I be doing that unless I had the proper training and insurance in place. One minor problem can get real expensive real fast and Lawyers don't care if you were "only helping a friend".

Dan

 

[Flys-Lo]

Thank you both for the response. One point of clarity; I wouldn't, nor did I say I was going to, "test gas pressure". I wrote above that the gas company suspected the gas meter was too small and their answer was that they were going to replace the meter. I said "we'll see if that has any affect." I don't have the tools to check for gas leaks (other than soapy water) or much less, check for pressure. Going back to my original post I was asking if there was anything else I should look at before replacing the ICB since that was another significant cost for the neighbor. I can understand that there are people out there (like my neighbor) that wouldn't even attempt to repair/replace components such as sensors, ignitors, thermistors, gas valves and ICB's on their own but I also wouldn't expect them to be in this forum asking specific questions like above. Again, I thank you for your responses.

 

[ps0303]

Outside of checking the gas pressure coming in, I guess you're onto replacing the ICB.

 

[Flys-Lo]

ICB didn't fix it. Possible leak in the heat exchanger which would explain the "smoke" he saw in the back when the symptoms first began. I'll update this as I go along. Thank you again ps0303 and danpik.

 

[ps0303]

If there is a leak you should see water under/around the heater.

 

[Flys-Lo]

That's what alerted me to it. He's got a hose and spigot that drips back there and the area is normally wet anyway so it took some patience and time to find the leak. I also remembered that when I opened the pool for him this spring that I found the heater drain plugs still in place. The pool company that closed it did NOT remove the drains on the heater. I showed him during the opening and told him that he may have a big problem when we turn the pump on shortly. Everything started up just fine at that point and functioned normally for 2 months until the above issues. You may recall my earlier comment re: terrible pool service in this area. ps0303 - how about opening up an Ohio branch?

 

[ps0303]

I left IL to live in FL so....LOL