Need some help with raypak Rp2100

[Bfofre]

Need a little help..
The heater sparks (pilot light) , then ignites no problem.
But continues to spark (quick flash on the lcd screen "spk" along with audible sound of sparking) , about every 30secs.... (already ignited at this point)
Heater is raypak rp2100 266k btu

The little research I've been able to locate has mentioned pc board.. But being an older heater, don't want to spend a lot of that isn't it!

Thanks in advance

 

[Patrick_B]

Sorry I can't help, but perhaps a bump to your thread will get the question in front of someone who can. Good luck with this, and enjoy the forum.

 

[Pool Clown]

Board isn't seeing flame rectification. Check high tension wire for integrity (no insulation cracks) and ALL grounding (green) wires. Also, check to confirm that you don't have a little soot build up on the pilot that would cause this. You may have to take the pilot out, or the burner tray to check this. Sometimes you can tap the pilot lightly to knock the soot off (with handle of a screwdriver).

 

[Bfofre]

Great.. I'll try this tonight.. Sure hope it's just a little soot. I'll carefully check the high tension wire also.. But didn't see anything visible at my last look.

 

[Bfofre]

I'm really hoping it's not the pc board... As this is an older heater and wouldn't want to invest that in it for maybe a few more years..

 

[Pool Clown]

The upside to possibly replacing the board is that you will get an updated board. Fenwal (spark) operation is now on the main board. If your heater has no rust, especially on the floor pan, and your chemistry has historically been within limits, i would go ahead with replacing the board. Replacement of the heater is more costly compared to replacing the board.

 

[Bfofre]

There's rust.. I picked this heater up used, for a steal.. Some light rust in the bottom pan. Anything I could check (condition wise) to determine if worth fixing. My previous heater (laars) died a few years ago.. The kids have been making be crazy wanting a new one to extend our very short swimming season here in the Midwest.

 

[Bfofre]

What's puzzling.. After getting it all hooked up (myself) fires right up.! Unfortunately, intermittently, it tries to spark again when already running.. Annoying, and likely damaging it further at this point..

 

[danpik]

Rust... so the plot thickens. Still sounds like a rectification problem. Make sure the area around the sparker is clean and any ground wire from it is connected to a good clean surface. The tiny millivolt current that passes thru the pilot flame can get interrupted real easy if the surfaces and grounding connections are corroded.

 

[Bfofre]

The heater was originally installed outdoors.. Of course our winter weather isn't always friendly! I think that rust is surface rust from the cabinet itself. But could be the burners? I'll explore with a closer look.. If it's the board, it may be worth just replacing with a new RP2100, since the gas, plumbing electrical is already setup! Not excited about the $2k price tag..

 

[Bfofre]

I'll start with the things mentioned here... And report any findings. Thanks so far for all your help folks

 

[Pool Clown]

I call it the screwdriver test. Take a screw driver and, if you can penetrate, or knock loose a substantial amount of rust in large chunks of, the floor pan (directly under the burner tray), it's time to replace...

 

[ps0303]

Bfofre,

You had two posts going for the same thing. Did you ever check the ground wire like I suggested?

Best to keep things in one post and not have two going.

 

[Bfofre]

Yes.. Sorry.. I got my posts messed up with tapatalk on my phone.. Ps0303.. This is the active post now! There isn't a ground wire similar to the one you pictured.. Going home now, will snap a photo

 

[Bfofre]

See 1st picture no green wire to the igniter.

Also in the other pics you can see the rust, I've looked around in the cabinet and it appears mostly to be the bottom plate and supports that have surface rust. The burners don't look bad, and the heat exchanger isn't leaking either or corroded badly..

 

[Bfofre]

Yes there is some rust on the 1" plates on top of the heat exchanger.. But doesn't appear to be on the tubes themselves.
10 plus years of being outside I guess.

 

[Bfofre]

Ok.. An update.. I just cleaned up any loose debris in the heater, checked all the spade connections (wiggled them) took it the pressure switch and blew on it to make sure it was clean, wrapped in the igniter lightly with a screw driver. And turned the heater back on.. Too my surprise, 20mins so far, no issues! I can see a nice clean blue flame when I contort myself to look into the burner tray, feel lots of heat from the top of the heater! Just maybe.. It needed a little old gain persuasion.. Not saying its fixed, but so far so good!

 

[Pool Clown]

Ok, good. Maybe between tapping the pilot, and wiggling the wires (BTW green wire from gas valve to the board is the ground.) did the trick!

Edit: i realize that in some areas, code says that the shut off valve has to be inside the jacket. But i disagree. That would be the place for the union and the valve outside, within 12 inches.
Here's my thinking. Say, god forbid, your heater catches fire. Its probably going to be due to an obstruction in the fire box (fire brick collapsed) the fire will be more than likely be filling the area you took a picture of. How do you turn that valve off? I'm not touching it! Better yet, what do you think will happen if you take the front cover off the heater to get to that valve??

Something for the gas code writers to think about...

 

[Bfofre]

I have a union and a shut off outside the unit the guy I purchased it from had it setup as such.. I didn't want to disturb it, but I got it covered! It's done correctly..

 

[Bfofre]

The external shut off and union..

And further updates.. Pool heater working great! My mood is much better now! [emoji1]
Thanks for your input..