Hayward pool heater automation

[whatmot]

Hi,
I replaced my Jandy Laars LX 400 heater with a Hayward FDN 400 natural gas heater heater over the weekend. The Jandy heater had 2 Jandy actuator valves controlling water flow when spa or pool heating is selected.
I however do not see an option on the Hayward heater to automate the switching of the water flow when selecting pool or spa heating?
Am I missing something or do I need to add a control system to automate the water flow when heating pool or spa?
Looking forward to a reply :-D

thx

 

[PoolGuyNJ]

You would need an automation system to do that.

Scott

 

[JasonLion]

The feature on your old heater that allowed it to control the valves is very rare among heaters in general. Valve automation is normally done by the automation system, not by the heater. Since Hayward doesn't have the valve automation in any of their heaters, you need to use an automation system or turn the valves manually. Even a very low end automation system will do, but that is still likely to be several hundred dollars.

 

[whatmot]

Thanks for the quick replies. I suspected this.
Any recommendations for low end automation system?
I currently have an x10 aquadyne 16 channel wireless system controlling pumps/lights/timer (using 5 of 16 channels). Perhaps I can use this for spa/pump actuators?