Troubleshoot a MasterTemp

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ARRRGGGGHHH!! Used heater flawlessly Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun. Did not swim yesterday and heater was off. Came home at lunch to turn on heater and get pool ready for kids for this evening. Turned pump to high, opened second suction, removed eyeball. Turned on heater and set to 89 (water is at 84). Heater came on and fired. Kicked off to looking for heat within a few minutes. Re-fired itself, ran very short time, went to Service Heater. I killed power to it for a minute or two and then tried again. Same thing - when it went to Service Heater i went in for a screwdriver to access the back of the board - when I came back out about 2 minutes later, it was cycling itself again with Service Heater light off and amber heating light flashing -- it fired, then within a minute or so went back to Service Heater. With the Service Heater light still on, I used a mirror to see the back of the board and the same three red lights were on again.

I am at a loss. Can any of you pool techs who know how the unit works answer any of these questions:

1. Does the fact that it intermittently works without a hiccup mean it CANNOT be the gas or gas/air mix side of things?

2. Does the fact that it intermittently works without a hiccup mean it CANNOT be a water flow or pressure issue or daisy wheel on the water pressure switch issue? If it can still be water, why doesn't Service System light go on?

3. Does the fact that it intermittently works without a hiccup mean it CANNOT be a clogged *whatever* I read about that can get clogged by mice nests, wasp nests, spider webs, etc. And, what would that part be that would get clogged?

4. Does the fact that it intermittently works without a hiccup mean it CANNOT be a chemically abused or otherwise damaged heat exchanger?

Thanks for any input. I will keep my ticket open with the Lincoln-based Pentair-approved pool tech and hope that he will take the time to thoroughly review the history and thoughtfully troubleshoot what can work sometimes but not always. Pentair phone support has been plenty nice on the phone (although the wait time is often greater than 1/2 hour) but at some point nice isn't good enough -- this is getting to be a lost season :(
 
And now, with nothing but a stern talking to, reminding the heater we have company coming everyday from this evening through Sunday, and discussing the low 80's forecast with lows in the 50s, it has stayed heating for the last 8 minutes or so. Curiously, the temp now says 85 even though I know it could not have risen a degree in 8 minutes. I sort of wish the thing would just break break so I would not get sucked into relying on it. Vent over.
 
crek31 said:
ARRRGGGGHHH!! Used heater flawlessly Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun. Did not swim yesterday and heater was off. Came home at lunch to turn on heater and get pool ready for kids for this evening. Turned pump to high, opened second suction, removed eyeball. Turned on heater and set to 89 (water is at 84). Heater came on and fired. Kicked off to looking for heat within a few minutes. Re-fired itself, ran very short time, went to Service Heater. I killed power to it for a minute or two and then tried again. Same thing - when it went to Service Heater i went in for a screwdriver to access the back of the board - when I came back out about 2 minutes later, it was cycling itself again with Service Heater light off and amber heating light flashing -- it fired, then within a minute or so went back to Service Heater. With the Service Heater light still on, I used a mirror to see the back of the board and the same three red lights were on again.

I am at a loss. Can any of you pool techs who know how the unit works answer any of these questions:

1. Does the fact that it intermittently works without a hiccup mean it CANNOT be the gas or gas/air mix side of things? Hardly ever a gas issue especially if it has worked great in the past.

2. Does the fact that it intermittently works without a hiccup mean it CANNOT be a water flow or pressure issue or daisy wheel on the water pressure switch issue? If it can still be water, why doesn't Service System light go on?Unless someone messed with the "daisy wheel" thing it should be good. No one should ever have to mess with that unless the pool sits higher than the heater and the water pressure from the pool above would cause you to have to adjust the pressure switch.

3. Does the fact that it intermittently works without a hiccup mean it CANNOT be a clogged *whatever* I read about that can get clogged by mice nests, wasp nests, spider webs, etc. And, what would that part be that would get clogged?Probably NOT clogged.

4. Does the fact that it intermittently works without a hiccup mean it CANNOT be a chemically abused or otherwise damaged heat exchanger?Probably not.

Thanks for any input. I will keep my ticket open with the Lincoln-based Pentair-approved pool tech and hope that he will take the time to thoroughly review the history and thoughtfully troubleshoot what can work sometimes but not always. Pentair phone support has been plenty nice on the phone (although the wait time is often greater than 1/2 hour) but at some point nice isn't good enough -- this is getting to be a lost season :(
Click to expand...

Answers to questions above in red.

On hold for their heater support is over a half hour? Maybe that's a sign about their heater products. I'm just saying....

Obviously some with the knowledge needs to look at this. Then again, sometimes you just need to swap a part or two out at t time to see what happens. But then again since it's not acting up on a regular basis it's hard to figure out.
 
Thanks Paul. To clarify - do you think theses symptoms are consistent with heat exchanger damage?

Got home tonight and pool was to temp, heater was on but not doing anything (appropriately) and no Service Heater light was on. Best guess is it continued heating after I left at lunch but it is possible it cycled itself on and off and crawled to temp that way. Next time: Raypak!! I only bought the Pentair heater to get the three year warranty. The warranty is useless if they don't actually get it working.
 
IF when the heater cycles off, the HLS LED comes on (as i think you said it did in the past), It would not be a gas related problem, mice problem, or chems. Pressure switch problem would give you the appropriate trouble LED (PS).

If you want to check to see if the exchanger is leaking (chemical abuse problem), there are 10 stainless steel bolts that hold the header on to the exchanger (where the plumbing goes in). Take either one of the lowest bolts out and see if water comes pouring out. That will tell you if there is a hole in the exchanger. If the exchanger had leaked and filled the fire box to a certain point, you could get the intermittent cycling you are experiencing. However, it would have had to fill up, then stop leaking to have the heater continue to work (intermittently) for this length of time. Usually, it will fill up then the heater will quit all together. Therefore i doubt you have that problem.


With an HLS LED, my money is still on a flow issue. Remember, flow is different from pressure. For whatever reason, the water is spending too much time in the heater and absorbing too much heat (not enough flow). IOW the heater can't get rid of the water fast enough.

If you can get the heater to run for about 5 min, press and hold the "on" button for about 10 seconds ("on" button for whichever thermostat you are using, pool or spa) the display will show the outlet temp of the vent. It should be anywhere between 290-350, if higher you have a flow issue , or possibly a sooted exchanger.
 
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