I brought the pool up to shock level 2 days ago. My FCL is now at 8.3. That was 5 minutes ago. While looking at the heater manual for closing instructions I noticed it highlighted in bold that chlorine should be maintained at no more than 5 ppm. I read that imbalances in alkalinity and especially PH can be adverse to your heater, but never anything about chlorine. It's a Raypak gas heater. Should I be concerned?
Can SLAMMING Hurt my Heater?
- Thread starter Tomolena
- Start date
The word is "maintained" and you have closed your pool which means water has been removed from the heater? Your FC is in the pool, which is fine, even up to shock level based on tie CYA. If you were running your pump and maintained high FC levels continuously, then you could do damage. In this case you are fine.
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Have you closed pool? If not Allow levels to drift down to your normal rage.
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Have you closed pool? If not Allow levels to drift down to your normal rage.
Closing tomorrow...weather permitting. Will be shutting the gas and electricity and opening the drain cocks prior to blowing the return lines. I'm currently trying to figure out where the pressure switch is so I can disconnect it.
Yes. The pressure switch turns the heater off when it detects that water is not coming in from the line. I've read that Raypak heaters have a pressure switch that should be left disconnected over the winter...swimmingpoolsteve
Chlorine at shock level for you CYA, [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA], will not harm your heater. There is less active hypochlorous acid in your pool with FC at shock level than there is in a pool with FC at 1 ppm and no CYA. PH below 7.2 can erode copper in heaters with a copper heat exchanger.
You may want to download the manual to see where the switch is. Regarding blowing out lines, I can be of assistance. I do not have a heater and have watched my friend close a few pools and do not recall him doing anything special to the heater . There should be a drain plug. Additionally all the power is off, so maybe it is not a big deal. I will contact my friend and inquire about heater tomorrow.
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Probably there is a disconnect wire on the switch.
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Probably there is a disconnect wire on the switch.
Just found it! Raypak has some excellent instructional videos...mostly directed toward their authorized service techs, but the info is out there for all to see. I know exactly how to blow the lines. There are some videos on that too. Did a dry run, so we're all set.
That's re-assuring to hear. It's just that their manual stressed that "Free Chorine MUST NOT EXCEED 5PPM!"
Yes, it can be a little nerve wracking to go against warranty warnings. I used to get nervous about it too. Much of the pool industry refuses to acknowledge, learn and understand the chlorine/CYA relationship despite the fact that it has been documented since the 1970s.
Certainly. Raypak has dozens, if not hundreds of video links for all of their equipment...not just their pool heaters. I'll post the link to the particular video I was referring to as soon as I get home.