Pentair heater "whine"

Jump to latest Follow Reply
M

mikeeye75

Member
Jun 8, 2021
7
Schaumburg, IL
Pool Size
12000
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
We recently installed our first pool and noticed that when after our heater runs for a few minutes (5-10), it begins to develop a whining noise. A tech from the pool company came out late last week and adjusted some internal regulator and said it should take care of the noise, but this morning it returned. I've reached out to the pool company again but while I'm waiting to hear back I figure I'll see if anyone on here has any thought on this. Here is a link to a video file in which you can hear the sound.
 
Last edited:
mknauss said:
Welcome to the forum!
Is the noise tied to the forced combustion air fan or the water flow?
Better to use YouTube for videos.
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I changed the video file to a YouTube hosted one. The noise comes from the area by the exhaust, which is also where the gas line comes into the heater.
 
You can see that this one is marked as 120 degrees, which is the temperature it is supposed to open.

If it is only opening a tiny bit, you will get a whistle from the water going through a small crack.

1624387614506.png


 
  • Like
Reactions: mikeeye75
JamesW said:
Likely to be the thermal regulator.

Remove the thermal regulator to see if the noise goes away.

See if the thermal regulator is opening correctly.

Do you have good flow to the heater?

Click to expand...
Thanks for this vid! Considering this is a brand new heater would it make sense that the regulator is already bad? Water flow is good, by the way. I have cleaned my cartridge filter twice since opening my pool and the pressure gauge is reading at the "Start" level still.
 
1624388851997.png
#1 is the internal bypass.

# 2 is the thermal regulator.

The thermal regulator prevents water from going through the heat exchanger until it hits 120 degrees because cold water can cause condensation.

They are known to have problems even when new.

Check the stack flue temperature with the thermal regulator in and then with it out.

The temperature should be about the same.

If it's a lot higher with the regulator in, the thermal regulator is probably not allowing enough water to go through the heat exchanger.

Turn the heater on. The fan will come on for about 30 seconds, then you will hear a click, and the heater should fire. At that moment, which ever thermostat you are using (POOL or SPA) hold that button down for ~10 seconds. Display should change from water temp to exhaust temp. Normal temps should be in the range of 290-350.

Pentair MasterTemp Heaters - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
  • Like
Reactions: EngineerNerd and mikeeye75
JamesW said:
View attachment 348285
#1 is the internal bypass.

# 2 is the thermal regulator.

The thermal regulator prevents water from going through the heat exchanger until it hits 120 degrees because cold water can cause condensation.

They are known to have problems even when new.

Check the stack flue temperature with the thermal regulator in and then with it out.

The temperature should be about the same.

If it's a lot higher with the regulator in, the thermal regulator is probably not allowing enough water to go through the heat exchanger.

Turn the heater on. The fan will come on for about 30 seconds, then you will hear a click, and the heater should fire. At that moment, which ever thermostat you are using (POOL or SPA) hold that button down for ~10 seconds. Display should change from water temp to exhaust temp. Normal temps should be in the range of 290-350.

Pentair MasterTemp Heaters - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
Click to expand...
Thank you very much James. This is SO helpful!!
 
Just wanted to provide an update. The tech from the pool company reviewed the email I sent him with the vid file showing the noise it's making. He confirmed with me that everything is setup correctly with my heater and that he has been noticing this noise problem affecting many other Pentair heaters that have been installed this season. The pool company is now reaching out to Pentair to see if there is a fix for this. If there isn't one, I have asked the pool company to swap my heater out for a different brand.
@JamesW thanks again for the helpful notes on this. Considering the circumstances surrounding this, I have not attempted to check the thermal regulator yet as I want to see how this all pans out between the pool company and Pentair first.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JamesW

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
JamesW said:
Does the whine start when the blower turns on or only after the heater fires?

If it starts a few seconds after the heater fires, it's the thermal regulator.
Click to expand...
No it does not. The noise doesn't start occurring until at least 5-10 minutes after the burners fire up. After that the noise is fairly constant until they turn off.
 
I think that it is probably the thermal regulator.

It would be really easy to test by removing the thermal regulator and then running it to see if it still makes the noise.

You can also test the thermal regulator in 130 degree water to see if it opens fully.

Waiting around for the installer and Pentair is likely to be a lot of time and trouble.

In any case, I understand wanting to let them deal with it since it's brand new and you don't want to do anything to cause them to blame you.
 
All - I had a similar issue. The heater would make a squeaking noise (just like OP showed in his video). Removed the thermal regulator and it went away. Re-sat the regulator in the spring a little more flat, and replace it - Noise is GONE!. Thanks for the tips everyone!
 
Also, remove the front or back cover and start the unit and see if the sound goes away. If it does it is an issue with airflow/gas mix. You should then have someone come out with a manometer to check the gas flow to the unit. As a side note, I had a customer with a similar issue, high pitched sound when running. The original installer used a piece of flex like to hook the heater up to the gas pipe and the flex line was 1/2". I removed it and used 3/4" galvanized pipe instead of the 1/" flex, noise went away. So using the correct size and style of pipe matters.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply