Heater destroyed in 1 month? So confused! [pics]

[JamesW]

It’s possible that the fountains were on causing low flow, but enough pressure to trigger the pressure switch.

In that case, the high limit should have been tripping.

A flow switch or a differential pressure switch would have provided protection.

The heater should also come equipped with a high gas pressure switch (In my opinion).

The error log should have been checked to see if there were multiple high limit errors.

Maybe the high limit is defective?

You can remove the high limit and check for where it trips.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Warranty repair service business is the pits, total money loser. Most of these service guys, if they’re called out for a warranty visit, do the absolute minimum amount of work, including just throwing out wild guesses, because their ability to get reimbursed for their time is severely limited by the manufacturer(s). So they have zero incentive to do anything beyond offer guesses and prescription that will get them in and out of warranty customer’s home ASAP. Then the $50 or so that the manufacturer will reimburse them with is worth it. If they blow an hour or two and come up with nothing or something minimal, then it’s a total loss. It’s really a no-win situation for the consumer because the manufacturer will not accept responsibility for repairs that aren’t first evaluated by a field “professional”. It’s all a game of how much liability and cost they can avoid. And the consumer is just left standing there to watch it unfold…

 

[Poolbreh]

I have a feeling the high limit was jumped and left that way.

 

[Poolbreh]

I believe the high limit has to be manually reset. If it was on the line side it wouldn’t turn on again. If it was on the load side I think it would reset but only run briefly until high limit was triggered. I think op would notice.

So either the high limit was bad with a high gas pressure 2x. Or installer didn’t know what was triggering it. It’s hard to collect money if the heater doesn’t work..

 

[JamesW]

I say that we all show up there tomorrow at 2:00 pm and figure it out.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

It’s hard to collect money if the heater doesn’t work..

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not faulting service techs. The guys doing the service jobs are simply acting in their own rational self-interest. The incentives are totally stacked against them the second they step out of their trucks. So they are only doing what makes the most sense.

There’s an appliance company here in Tucson that has their own service department and I have used them many times in the past. They are great. But you know what - they will ONLY service appliances that they have sold to you. They will not do general service calls. And it makes perfect sense because their reputation will get trashed the second they try to fix something for a customer they have no existing relationship with. They’ve made the calculation that they would rather forgo the extra business to protect their reputation and bottom line. It makes sense.

As for the current situation or ones like it - contract directly with a service technician and forget about warranty. Ask them to bid on the job to get the heater fully functioning agains and pay them for an hour of their time to diagnose the situation. Then, if the cost is less than 50% of what a new heater would cost, let them fix and pay them directly. If the cost is more than 50%, trash the old one and buy a new one. Just forget about the warranty, they are not worth it.

 

[JamesW]

I say that we all show up there tomorrow at 2:00 pm and figure it out.

Everyone bring snacks and tools and maybe we can have a cookout afterwards.

 

[Ahultin]

Everyone bring snacks and tools and maybe we can have a cookout afterwards.

You're talking about afterwards as in sunday right?? With the collection of people on here you know darn well were re-running the gas line, re-arranging the pad and replumbing the whole thing

 

[schoeps]

Gents, I am in the Baltimore area, and if you want to work on this setup and party, I will finance it! Maybe bring in a band!

Thank you all for your help, I apprecaite it, I will keep you posted on how things go!

 

[JamesW]

I would definitely not allow them to start the heater without checking the gas pressure as it is not safe.

This is something that you need to insist on before the heater is started.

In my opinion, the pool service person is probably not licensed to install or work on gas appliances and I would want someone who has the correct license to handle gas.

 

[Bill1974]

To do your due diligence, I would ask Raypak what the service tech should be checking and see if the service tech does all that Raypak asks of them. This is site is pretty DIY, but there is also much to be cautious with when dealing with a gas pool heater. If you are any bit uncomfortable or unsure on checking the heat out, don't!

If you are proceed with caution.
Things to check:

1. Unitherm Governor Operation - mixing valve used to maintain a constant temp in the heat exchanger as long as there is enough flow
2. Internal Automatic Bypass Valve
3. is water going through in the correct direction (manual indicated that it can be reversed but the heater need to be reconfigured)
4. check the high limit temp switches, they should cut out at 135°F
5. Gas pressure (I would leave this to a pro unless you are one yourself). The manual only suggests that sooting could happen if the gas pressure is to high.

If the gas pressure were to high and the Unitherm Governor and internal automatic bypass and temp limit switches were not working then you could have the issue you are seeing. The temp limit switches will cut the gas flow if the 135 limit is reached. If the water flow were to low the limit switches should kick in and prevent this. If the Unitherm Governor and/or Internal Automatic Bypass Valve isn't working it could limit the flow in the heat exchanger cause this issue.

The Unitherm Governor and Internal Automatic Bypass Valve can easily be messed up with bad water chemistry. Based on the a Raypak manual of what they do and how they work, I think I would make sure these are checked at the beginning of the season and maybe during the season depending on usage. To high or to low of water temperature can cause deposits that mess up the heat exchanger, Unitherm Governor and/or Internal Automatic Bypass Valve. If you are constanting hitting the limit switches because of low water flow it will eventually cause deposits to form on the Unitherm Governor and/or Internal Automatic Bypass Valve and they will not work as intended, it just a matter of time.

if you want to eliminate the issue of melting the header you can get copper-nickel ones, but this is likely going to be a bandaid and just take longer to fail. The likely cause is water quality and/or low water flow.

The heater works like you are driving a car where the throttle is an on/off switch, you are either off the gas or have it to the floor. The temp limit switches are like a speedometer that cut the gas when a speed is reached. The Unitherm Governor and/or Internal Automatic Bypass Valve are there to limit how often the throttle is turned on and off. They do this by controlling how much water goes through the heat exchanger or if bypasses it.

Since you have variable speed pump, I would do some testing to determine what is the minimum speed it can run at without causing the to gas valve to cycle and have it on continuous when the pool is at the desired temp or close to it. I would then make sure the pump is at the speed or more when the heater is on. The next thing to determine is if there is to much flow with all your pumps or above a certain speed that would overwhelm the bypass cause to much water to go through the heat exchanger causing it to drop below a certain temp (it's in the manual). Either limit the speed of the pump or pumps and/or install an external bypass to prevent this.