Ignoring my last few rant filled sad face posts, good news. I finally found a installer that would do a Raypak heater as well as all the necessary ventilation to get it up and running. A few comments regarding the setup I had.
10 foot high shed attached to house (painted, shingled). Pool equipment is inside. It is already plumbed with a Gas line.
Installer 1# We don't do raypak, we do Mastertemp
Installer 2# We can do raypak but we won't vent it. You'll have to hire a person to do it
Installer 3# We can do a raypak but we'll have to install it outside.
Installer 4# We can do raypak, but I can't find the proper 9 inch flue vent for it (spends 2 weeks looking for vent). I posted this on the forum board and 13 seconds later someone posts the proper vent. Same installer comes back and says (I just won't do a raypak anymore, I'll do a Jandy).
Installer 5 AND 6# I can give you a quote, but I charge a 75 dollar (200 dollar) service fee to come out to give you an estimate. We can forward that cost towards the cost of the installation.
So after digging I found a rink a dink small pool shop that has a construction crew on staff that they use to do installations. Cheryl (I like her), comes out, says "Yea I can do a Raypak, love them". Can do the ventilation, Can do the plumbing, can do the stack (at this point though, I just went out and bought the stack myself).
The total install will take roughly 3 days (they have to replumb the setup (fine by me)). They also had to raise the raypak heater about 3 inches so the drain it was under had room to both drain water and be cleaned (simple cinder blocks).
A few things I learned. Many... MANY pool installers have specific brands they use for both ease of install, repeated need for service calls, and also I believe some gain a incentive from the manufacturer (or a steeper discount) for using them. I'm a bit distrusting of people when the first thing they do is try to sell me off of what I want, for what they want.
I'll snap a few photos once the flue goes up so that people know what the heck a Raypak looks like with a flue attached (as well as receive comments if they completely Fked it up).
Frustration be gone, the Raypak is going in.
10 foot high shed attached to house (painted, shingled). Pool equipment is inside. It is already plumbed with a Gas line.
Installer 1# We don't do raypak, we do Mastertemp
Installer 2# We can do raypak but we won't vent it. You'll have to hire a person to do it
Installer 3# We can do a raypak but we'll have to install it outside.
Installer 4# We can do raypak, but I can't find the proper 9 inch flue vent for it (spends 2 weeks looking for vent). I posted this on the forum board and 13 seconds later someone posts the proper vent. Same installer comes back and says (I just won't do a raypak anymore, I'll do a Jandy).
Installer 5 AND 6# I can give you a quote, but I charge a 75 dollar (200 dollar) service fee to come out to give you an estimate. We can forward that cost towards the cost of the installation.
So after digging I found a rink a dink small pool shop that has a construction crew on staff that they use to do installations. Cheryl (I like her), comes out, says "Yea I can do a Raypak, love them". Can do the ventilation, Can do the plumbing, can do the stack (at this point though, I just went out and bought the stack myself).
The total install will take roughly 3 days (they have to replumb the setup (fine by me)). They also had to raise the raypak heater about 3 inches so the drain it was under had room to both drain water and be cleaned (simple cinder blocks).
A few things I learned. Many... MANY pool installers have specific brands they use for both ease of install, repeated need for service calls, and also I believe some gain a incentive from the manufacturer (or a steeper discount) for using them. I'm a bit distrusting of people when the first thing they do is try to sell me off of what I want, for what they want.
I'll snap a few photos once the flue goes up so that people know what the heck a Raypak looks like with a flue attached (as well as receive comments if they completely Fked it up).
Frustration be gone, the Raypak is going in.