[I now have all the new heater parts] Is this new heater board part defective?

Jump to latest Follow Reply
T

tstex

Silver Supporter
Aug 28, 2012
2,186
Houston, TX
Hello to all,

Just received a heater display board for Hayward’s famous CE error. Upon inspection, noticed there’s a distinct raised area that’s “bubbled” and still seems to be soft. (See arrow that shows the start of the bubbled area). The portion lower of this area is both flat and dry, while above arrow is softer & all bubble, which is 1/3 of entire board.

Do I need to be concerned of the raised bubbled area?

Thank you and pls advise,
tstex
 

Attachments

  • BEC91D63-A68D-48FF-8C91-F06CB8563C0A.jpeg
    BEC91D63-A68D-48FF-8C91-F06CB8563C0A.jpeg
    430.4 KB · Views: 23
This is exactly why i returned this board 4-5 Mo’s ago bc of the same bubbling /

has anyone else ordered a display board for the Hayward 400K BTU heater and have the same issue? thanks Allen

tstex
 
Last edited:
That’s not bubbling, that’s called conformal coating and it’s purpose is to waterproof the components that it is applied over. It’s too bad more pool equipment suppliers don’t apply this on their PC boards as it prevents corrosion damage (due to electrolysis) when water gets on energized electronics.
It looks like they coated the microprocessor and nearby components.

That is what a normal conformal coated board should look like.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: BTJR, superuser and tstex
Thank you very much Mschutzer…that is great news! Excellent to learn something new.

Question: Can I purchase the product that performs the costing and install on another processor board that does not have the components that burn out ? Thx
 
Last edited:
There are several different types of conformal coating that are available in spray cans. The silicon based stuff is good for this application.

Digikey has a bunch of conformal coating in stock, here is a good silicon based choice.

2102-12S Techspray | Prototyping, Fabrication Products | DigiKey

Order today, ships today. 2102-12S – Silicone Conformal Coating Aerosol, 12 oz (340.19g) Clear from Techspray. Pricing and Availability on millions of electronic components from Digi-Key Electronics.
www.digikey.com www.digikey.com
 
MSchutzer said:
There are several different types of conformal coating that are available in spray cans. The silicon based stuff is good for this application.

Digikey has a bunch of conformal coating in stock, here is a good silicon based choice.

2102-12S Techspray | Prototyping, Fabrication Products | DigiKey

Order today, ships today. 2102-12S – Silicone Conformal Coating Aerosol, 12 oz (340.19g) Clear from Techspray. Pricing and Availability on millions of electronic components from Digi-Key Electronics.
www.digikey.com www.digikey.com
Click to expand...
Great, thank you!

Are there specific instructions on how & where to apply the material w absolute do’s & dont’s? I have read numerous threads on the Hayward CE error and boards shorting out very quickly after replacing them w in 1-2 yrs. Over 95% of the issues were always correlated w prior rainfall, thus water intrusion. Do you have any suggestions on how to “best waterproof” the display and other to be more proactive. Many pool owners have asked this question.

thanks again.
 
Does anyone have a display board sitting around they replaced? I'd like to get a spare board to do more research on without taking my heater out of commission. I don't need a working board, and the ones on eBay are outside of my budget.
 
I've already repaired mine once, there's a thread here about it. My LED module was messed up from water incursion, and the board was non operational. I wasn't able to source the original part, but I was able to put in a more readily available piece. Not the prettiest or most elegant, but it works and my heater has been solid this year. But I know it's only a matter of time before I have to address it again.

My goal isn't to have a spare board lying around either, it's to engineer a reliable solution. For those of us with the heater outdoors and exposed to the elements (no roof or cover) the sun, rain (and snow) are pretty brutal. The membrane panel gets tore up pretty fast, starts leaking and the water incursion ultimately leads to failures. I'm thinking along the lines of a weather 'proof' display module that screws in place, and plugs in with the same 4 wire connector. Maybe reusing the OE display board, maybe not.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Thanks for the explanation.

Where is the area or areas of the greatest water intrusion? Is it the display screen where the four screws are located ? Or, is it where the two halves of the heater casing joins? There’s also the vents where NG Combustion/heat exits?
 
I can only speak to mine, but for me it started between the button membrane and the housing. The adhesive shrunk, cracked and failed, and the membrane separated. That allowed rain water to get behind it and drip onto the board. The LED module was fried, but the board still worked - just couldn't see the temp. The conformal coating mostly held up, there was one trace that wasn't coated fully and failed a couple months after replacing the LED module. The copper eventually oxidized to the point it couldn't carry the load and failed open. That of course made the board non-operational, so I just jumpered the trace and recoated that part of the board. UV has deteriorated the membrane's plastic enough to where it cracked when I tried to wipe away dust and dirt. So that is covered with 5 mil clear plastic now, and clear silicone at the edges. Ugly, but still functional.

The seam and the vents don't seem to be a problem for water, as the other boards sit right under the display.
 
ps0303 said:
There are aftermarket covers for the keypad to keep it from being destroyed by the elements. Do some searching on eBay and Amazon.
Click to expand...
I've seen those, and they shade the panel from the sun but don't do much to redirect water. Not sure if an IP65 rating is needed, but I'd like to make things a bit more resilient. It seems like a good preventative measure for about 40 bucks though.
 
tstex said:
Great, thank you!

Are there specific instructions on how & where to apply the material w absolute do’s & dont’s? I have read numerous threads on the Hayward CE error and boards shorting out very quickly after replacing them w in 1-2 yrs. Over 95% of the issues were always correlated w prior rainfall, thus water intrusion. Do you have any suggestions on how to “best waterproof” the display and other to be more proactive. Many pool owners have asked this question.

thanks again.
Click to expand...
The conformal coating won’t hurt any electronics on the board, but you do want to use some masking tape to cover areas where You don’t want it applied. The coating is non conductive so you need to keep it away from any of the connectors and terminals that stuff plugs into. On that heater control board you also want to mask off the top of the LED displays and indictor LEDs. It won’t hurt the LED’s but you probably don’t want a shiny coating over the top of them.
 
I received both the Integrated control Board and Display Board for my Hayward 400BTU NG Heater so I can fixed the CE error.

Are there any special things I need to do or watch out for while replacing these parts, or "tricks of the trade"? Will, of course turn off power, and there should be no problem replacing the display board, just wanted to know of the Integrated control board. There are 2 additional parts w this board and I am just going to do a part-for-part swap and take pics of how all the parts/cables/connections are all set before I remove and replace.

Finally, I was thinking of adding some Butyl Sealant tape between the display and where it screws to the main heater body. Even put some in all 4 screw holes as well. This material is EXTREMELY durable and water repellant. I use it to overlay the metal roofing panels when I do my ranch roofs.

Thank you for your advice,
tstex
 
Last edited:
Even swaps, not much to it. The tape behind the display bezel is a very good idea. Check to make sure the button membrane hasn't started cracking or separating from the bezel as well. That's where mine looks like it started to fail first.
 
Thanks Super

I also replaced the keypad too. I still think the other one was ok, but ordered it about 7-8 Mo’s ago when i was troubleshooting and forgot to return it.

There was also a lot of debris in the heater from my nbors palm trees that i vacuumed out. But, they froze in our big freeze so they’re gone now…
 
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