Hayward Heater Small Leak and Won't Fire

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dailygenesis

dailygenesis

Gold Supporter
Nov 19, 2022
242
Oklahoma City
Pool Size
21000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
Hello there. I have just noticed my Hayward H500FDN heater was not firing and went out to check and it has a bit of a slow, dripping leak at the front left bottom and mid-right bottom of the unit. I took off the front panel and can't see anything leaking in there but that's as far as I have gone.

Based on what I have read on this forum, it seems likely this could be the heat exchanger and that replacing the unit might be my only course of action. But, I wanted to check here to see:

1) Is there anything else I could/should do or check on my own?
2) Is it possible to get the heater to fire and run even with the leak, or will the leak always prevent it from firing (I guess what I'm asking is whether the leak and the ignition failure are related or separate issues)?

Thank you!
 
dailygenesis said:
1) Is there anything else I could/should do or check on my own?
Click to expand...

Disassemble the heater to where you can observe where the leak is coming from.

Hayward H-Series Heaters - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

dailygenesis said:
2) Is it possible to get the heater to fire and run even with the leak, or will the leak always prevent it from firing (I guess what I'm asking is whether the leak and the ignition failure are related or separate issues)?
Click to expand...
Depends where the leak is, where the water is flowing to, and the volume of the leak.

The heater may fire with a small leak and any water will be vaporized in the exhaust.

A larger leak will put the flame out and not let the heater run.
 
ajw22 said:
Disassemble the heater to where you can observe where the leak is coming from.
Click to expand...
This may be a little more than I can take on, but I will look into it. Do I need to disconnect power, etc. before doing this disassembling? I assume not because it will need to be running to see where the leak is.
 
dailygenesis said:
This may be a little more than I can take on, but I will look into it. Do I need to disconnect power, etc. before doing this disassembling? I assume not because it will need to be running to see where the leak is.
Click to expand...
You don't need the heater running to see where the leak is.

You just need water flowing through the heat exchanger. You can often see that without the heater firing.

It is always good to trip the circuit breaker before working on equipment.
 
ajw22 said:
You don't need the heater running to see where the leak is.

You just need water flowing through the heat exchanger. You can often see that without the heater firing.

It is always good to trip the circuit breaker before working on equipment.
Click to expand...
Oh, sorry yes I just meant I would need water flowing not the heater running. I believe the heater is on the same breaker with the automation system so if I trip that I guess I would just run the pump manually. But I've never done that before either, so a lot to figure out. Or I guess I could disconnect the wires for the heater from the breaker.
 
dailygenesis said:
Oh, sorry yes I just meant I would need water flowing not the heater running. I believe the heater is on the same breaker with the automation system so if I trip that I guess I would just run the pump manually. But I've never done that before either, so a lot to figure out. Or I guess I could disconnect the wires for the heater from the breaker.
Click to expand...
You really do not want other devices being on the same breaker as the automation.

Do you want to lose your automation because the heater has an electrical problem tripping the breaker?
 
ajw22 said:
You really do not want other devices being on the same breaker as the automation.

Do you want to lose your automation because the heater has an electrical problem tripping the breaker?
Click to expand...
I'm sure I don't but this is the way the installer set it up and I don't believe there is another breaker in there to use. I would have to get an additional breaker added.
 
I wasn't able to get around to trying to diagnose this myself. But I had a guy from a pool company I like out (my original pool builder has not been good to work with in support) and he showed me where there is a lot of corrosion around the heat exchanger and water leaking out from there. So, it seems that it's going to need a replacement.

This new company I'm working with is a Pentair shop and so they are recommending the Pentair 460736 400K Ng Mastertemp Heater. They also said I could go with the 250K unit, but I'm inclined to spend the extra money for the faster heating. We use our pool heater a lot for the spa and to heat the pool and extend the season, so I want something that is going to work and work well.

Any thoughts on this recommendation? Any considerations I should keep in mind with this Pentair unit? Any issues I will potentially have working the Hayward controller and Pentair heater together?

Also, I am planning to have them plumb in a heater bypass when they do the work. Someone on this forum recommended that a while back. Is that a good idea?

@ajw22
 
ajw22 said:
Pentair MasterTemp is a fine heater.

Heater Bypass - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
Click to expand...
Thank you. I'm a little confused where the article mentions the Pentair Automatic Bypass. Are they saying that with a Pentair heater this is better to use instead of a manual bypass? Or would you have both a manual bypass and this automatic bypass?
 

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