Raypac Vs Mastertemp

[Marlinman]

We are building a new pool with all Pentair equipment except for the 400btu heater I have read on here that the Raypac is better. My question is around the automation into the Inteltouch system would we gain anything automation wise by going with a Pentair heater?

 

[shakenbake]

I don't have experience with intellitouch or pentair heaters, but on Jandy Aqualink and a LXi/digital controls based heater that conects via an RS485 serial interface, you gain the ability to see error codes and messages within the control interface in the house, and the unit "fails" faster - meaning the control system will not continually try to start the heater. A normal interface with a heater is just a dumb relay or fireman's switch, so there is no way for the control system to know if the heater is work except to watch for a temp rise. If the pentair heater connects to the intellitouch via a serial interface and not a simple relay, then I'd expect it to work the same way as the Aqualink + Lxi.

 

[PoolGuyNJ]

When equipping a new pad, most pros (myself included) will stick with one vendor so the owner gets the benefit of the extended warranty. As for which is the better heater, both are excellent units. When I am replacing just the heater, I use Rheem (rebadged Ray Pak) as they are usually a little less expensive to the homeowner.

Scott

 

[racket]

When equipping a new pad, most pros (myself included) will stick with one vendor so the owner gets the benefit of the extended warranty. As for which is the better heater, both are excellent units. When I am replacing just the heater, I use Rheem (rebadged Ray Pak) as they are usually a little less expensive to the homeowner.

Scott

I used to do the same, but Raypak turned into parts NAZI's. Nothing worse than being the installer of something that breaks, and having to pay for replacement parts out of pocket.

Pentair's heater has a pretty low failure rate, when properly installed.