How should I plumb my new NG Heater?

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heathjudeh

heathjudeh

Member
Mar 2, 2020
15
Atlanta
Hi All,
I have just purchased a Raypak 406a NG heater. It is 400K BTU's.

I am installing it and have some questions about the correct water flow.
Is anyone familiar with how a pool heater should be plumbed properly into existing pump/filter setup?

Due to space constraints, I was thinking of plumbing my heater water inlet from in front of my pool pump (Black pump on the left in the picture). The outlet “tempered water” I’m thinking of plumbing to the outlet pipe from my filter and before my salt cell.
Thoughts on this approach?
Picture for attention

351361719_1197160060968147_2049986628662938749_n.jpg
 
I can't say whether an inspector will accept "permanently closed" or not, that would likely depend on the particular inspector and how "permanent" the means used to close the window is. If this is a single-story house one alternate fix might be to add a flue pipe to the unit and duct the exhaust up to the eave line.

Regarding the plumbing, you are going to need to take apart the connection between the filter and the SWG, and plumb the out of the filter around to the heater and the the out of the heater back to the SWG, This might end up a bit neater if you also re-plumbed the pump to filter connection and rotate the filter 90 degrees counterclockwise (So the connections point towards the heater).

What is off to the left of the picture? Any place to locate the heater in that direction. That would make the plumging less tight as well as possibly solve the issue with the window.
 
Or consider rotating the filter 90 degrees and moving it out away from the house about 18". That will give you room to run the plumbing behind the pump. You could relocate the SWG back there as well as there will be plenty of straight pipe run.
 
heathjudeh said:
Hot tub is to the left, so really would like to leave it where it's currently at on the equipment pad and out of the
Click to expand...
flynwill said:
I can't say whether an inspector will accept "permanently closed" or not, that would likely depend on the particular inspector and how "permanent" the means used to close the window is. If this is a single-story house one alternate fix might be to add a flue pipe to the unit and duct the exhaust up to the eave line.

Regarding the plumbing, you are going to need to take apart the connection between the filter and the SWG, and plumb the out of the filter around to the heater and the the out of the heater back to the SWG, This might end up a bit neater if you also re-plumbed the pump to filter connection and rotate the filter 90 degrees counterclockwise (So the connections point towards the heater).

What is off to the left of the picture? Any place to locate the heater in that direction. That would make the plumging less tight as well as possibly solve the issue with the window.
Click to expand...
Have any example images of this setup. I'm new to this so hoping I can get a good example of how to fit both inlet and outlet in front of the filter. Just seems impossible with the lack of space.

Thanks!
 
Putting unfiltered water through the heater is not a good plan. You will clog the heat exchanger.
 
heathjudeh said:
Have any example images of this setup. I'm new to this so hoping I can get a good example of how to fit both inlet and outlet in front of the filter. Just seems impossible with the lack of space.
Click to expand...
There are dozens of equipment pad pictures on this forum, so I would say browse to see if find any good ideas. I suspect that your best bet will be to turn the filter 90 or 180 degrees and move it away from the house. What is the device on the tee between the pump and the filter? Without that the outlet of the pump can probably into the filter with a single 90 (filter rotated so the connections face right in you picture). The line from the filter to the heater will probably need 3 90s, turn back towards the house, run along the house then up to the heater inlet. Then plumb the heater outlet more-or-less in parallel (and put the SWG into the horizontal run behind the pumps), and then out low between the pump and the filter and into the return distribution.

One comment about the window. If the room inside is a bedroom and that was the only window you've created a different issue (no emergency egress).
 

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I don’t know how you permanently closed the window. But it must be sealed such that no heater exhaust can leak in.
 
Also consider adding a heater bypass. This will allow isolation of the heater and the ability to run the pump at a lower speed (saving electricity) while still satisfyimg the flow required by the SWG (and its flow switch) when the heater isn't needed.

Heater Bypass - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
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