Raypak 406a heater loses power randomly

[binyamingavriel]

Hi everyone,
Another summer, another season of headaches with this heater. But I'm not ready to plunk down 4 G on a new one. My previous soldering job seems to have held up, but a new loose connection at the board from the temp sensor was giving me problems. Got it going again but it was short lived. And extremely frustrating. So I bought a replacement board (the newer type). While at it I put a new temp probe in for good measure, although the old one looked OK.
Soi hooked it all up, and it started right up. However, there is what appears to be a short somewhere, as the heater will randomly turn off (as in, lose power). A gentle bang on the outside is usually enough to get it going again.
The diagnostic mode shows voltage of 24.4, which should be OK from my understanding.
Any ideas where to look, or should I just replace all the wiring at this point? I'm even OK with hiring a pro, provided he can actually get to the root of the problem. The heater itself is older and has quite a bit of rust inside, but when it works seems to function well.
Thanks

 

[1poolman1]

Hi everyone,
Another summer, another season of headaches with this heater. But I'm not ready to plunk down 4 G on a new one. My previous soldering job seems to have held up, but a new loose connection at the board from the temp sensor was giving me problems. Got it going again but it was short lived. And extremely frustrating. So I bought a replacement board (the newer type). While at it I put a new temp probe in for good measure, although the old one looked OK.
Soi hooked it all up, and it started right up. However, there is what appears to be a short somewhere, as the heater will randomly turn off (as in, lose power). A gentle bang on the outside is usually enough to get it going again.
The diagnostic mode shows voltage of 24.4, which should be OK from my understanding.
Any ideas where to look, or should I just replace all the wiring at this point? I'm even OK with hiring a pro, provided he can actually get to the root of the problem. The heater itself is older and has quite a bit of rust inside, but when it works seems to function well.
Thanks

Check the high-voltage wiring that comes in to the heater. A picture of which one you have would help, but it is likely behind the upper panel on the right side of the cabinet. Remove the large front door. That will reveal four screws (two on each side) that need to be removed from the control panel and it will lay out giving access to the wiring cabinet at the right. One 5/16" nut driver or flat-head screwdriver opens that. Banging the cabinet would seem to indicate a loose wire there. Sometimes you will find a burned wire nut and wire that needs to be replaced.