New heater question

[gary300]

Will be getting a new Raypak 399,000 BTU low nox 407a heater installed tomorrow to replace my 22 yrs old Raypak RP2100. The old heater only had power applied when the pump was running (i.e. two blue wires and a ground from my LX10 pump relay to the heater and then back out to the pump motor.

Is this the normal way to wire a heater? Would I be better off telling my installer tomorrow to provide an always on 115 vac connection to the heater so the heater always has power? My LX-10 Compool box has a GFCI protected 115 vac source that could be run along with the 220 vac pump motor wires. Seems to me that running a Microprocessor controlled device from a power source that is transformer derived from a set of relay contacts switching a 220 V 15A current with all the inherent arching and back EMF is not a good idea. The could be why my current heater PCB and transformer are fried albeit it took a while. After thinking this through for a while, I guess I answered my own question.

Thanks for any help, the pros on this forum know their stuff!

 

[ps0303]

Well you can only use the heater when the pump is running so why would you want the unit powered all the time? Only powering the unit when the pump is on is a standard setup as far as I am concerned.

Here in FL we have various critters that enjoy the warmth of the transformer and will crawl up inside the unit and then on occasion short it out. So only powering it when needed or only when the pump is on helps prevent this from happening.