3 yo Jandy Heater: Repair or Replace?

[amberbird]

Hi all - we have a 3 year old 12k gallon gunnite pool and the builder installed a new Jandy 400k btu JX1400NK heater for pool and spa, which typically only gets used for the spa a few nights a week from October - April. We’ve had intermittent trouble with it in the last 3 years and have had to repair it 2-3 times for various issues (all covered under warranty so far). It recently went out again - about 10 months after the warranty ended - Jandy says we’re out of luck. Our pool repair guy (not the original builder) says it needs a new PIB (Power Interface Board).

He quoted us $1100 for this repair, and while he doesn’t see anything else immediately wrong he can’t guarantee that will be the only problem.

He also said jandy heaters are notorious for this issue and they have expensive parts. He could replace the Jandy with a Rheem 266k btu heater for $4200 or a 400k btu heater for $4800.

All prices include installation, and generally this pool repair guy is awesome - we’ve been way happier with him since we ditched the company that built it. Curious if anyone has had a similar issue, or opinions on which way to go? 3 years isn’t a very long life for a heater, but I don’t want to keep throwing money at a bad unit.

Thanks in advance!

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

What does your Jandy heater do or not do that tells the pool repair guy that it needs a new PIB?

Heaters do not like to sit idle and not be run at least weekly. They get condensation, corrosion, attract spiders and rodents and become attractive nests.

Running the heater for the spa in the winter with the water cold can cause Heater Condensation - Further Reading

The Jandy JXI, Pentair MasterTemp, Hayward H-Series, and Rheem/Raypak Avia all are forced draft sealed burner heaters that are more complex but less susceptible to corrosion. The Rheem/Raypak digital heater is a natural draft heater with open burners that will sit there and begin rusting out on you starting with the day it is installed.

I don't think you have a bad unit. You need to run your heater and do preventive maintenance on it all your round whether you use it or not. I don't know all the problems you had and if you just got a lemon but many folks here have Jandy heaters that work fine for them.

Heater Maintenance - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Jandy JXI Heaters - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

RayPak Heaters - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[amberbird]

This is so helpful, thank you! Yes, I’m gathering that firing the heater periodically in the summer is a good idea - our spa is used a lot, but once that water temp gets up into the 90s it’s neglected. Will remedy that next season.

This time, the heater wouldn’t fire up at all - the pool repair guy reports this:

The heater threw the breaker so we replaced the fuse & tried to re-start. To no avail we metered and traced every wire to see if repairs could be made/ we could fix it without expensive part replacement. Checked the blower, sensors, boards, etc. Unfortunately the PIB Power Interface Board is out and needs to be replaced.

They advised us to contact Jandy, who obviously shot us down, and then we got the quote in the original post.

Previous problems involved replacing some wiring, replacing the gas gauge and I think replacing the igniter, which the builder said was the result of heavy rains if I remember correctly.

So I’m hearing pay the $1100 and step up the summer maintenance? Thank you!

 

[ajw22]

PIB could have been blown out due to a summer thunderstorm. But if you have not tried to run it for a few months you have no idea what happened. If you try and run it at least weekly then you don’t have surprises when you want to heat the spa.

$1100 is better than $4800 in my book.

You will find out if your pool guy is any good with his diagnosis.

 

[amberbird]

Oh man - we did have a massive storm that blew out our modem and treadmill this summer. I had completely forgotten about that! Thank you, this is beyond helpful!

 

[ajw22]

Oh man - we did have a massive storm that blew out our modem and treadmill this summer. I had completely forgotten about that! Thank you, this is beyond helpful!

Had you tried to run the heater from then until now?

You can’t blame Jandy or the heater for that failure.

 

[amberbird]

We have not - and yes, totally get that Jandy has nothing to do with electrical surges! Will repair this one for sure. Thank you!

 

[ajw22]

The cost of living in tornado alley.

 

[mknauss]

Are there any known places that repair those boards?

 

[amberbird]

Are there any known places that repair those boards?

I’m not sure, actually - I’ll call Jandy again and see if they’ve got anyone in the area. Our original builder is their warranty provider though, and they don’t want to repair anything - they literally wanted to replace/warranty our pump when a $12 capacitor went out Good idea, thanks!

 

[nuttyp]

I agree with all the comments. Just to add, another preventive option is to have a whole house surge suppressor installed at the main entrance panel for a few hundred bucks. Not just for tornado alley, but here in FL half the state gets heavy afternoon thunderstorms in the summer almost daily, with plenty of power interruptions and surges. Not sure any place in the country is immune. There are many makes like my Intermatic one that seems to have saved some losses in a few homes I’ve owned, while friends and neighbors have lost cooktop controls, irrigation controllers, refrigerators, modems – you name it. Over 20 years I’ve only lost one fridge VFD – and my BuiltRight pool heat pump ‘forgot’ its settings recently in post-hurricane power glitches but survived otherwise. Most suppressors (also available for meter install by many power companies for a monthly fee) also provide insurance reimbursement for surge-induced losses, although folks tell me the claims process can be imperfect & dicey.

I also place those $50-$100 battery backup UPS’s for a few key items like cable modems, routers, VOIP modems, set top boxes, etc. Handy to not be interrupted on VOIP phone calls or while streaming old episodes of Gilligan’s Island Many of those small UPS devices also claim to insure for fried devices. I suspect the built-in surge suppression advertised on many $10 power strips might be a bit useless, but I don’t really know.

I guess it’s always a risk/reward choice, whether to spend 25% of the product cost on a repair. If you can find a handy friend or electrician it looks like a new PIB (likely part # R0458200) can be had for $450, or a “pre-owned” PIB on ebay for $165. Enterprising folks remove key parts like that from otherwise ruined heaters and re-sell the pre-owned parts, at some additional risk to the buyer I guess, if you need to return it.

Whatever you decide - good luck!

 

[amberbird]

I agree with all the comments. Just to add, another preventive option is to have a whole house surge suppressor installed at the main entrance panel for a few hundred bucks. Not just for tornado alley, but here in FL half the state gets heavy afternoon thunderstorms in the summer almost daily, with plenty of power interruptions and surges. Not sure any place in the country is immune. There are many makes like my Intermatic one that seems to have saved some losses in a few homes I’ve owned, while friends and neighbors have lost cooktop controls, irrigation controllers, refrigerators, modems – you name it. Over 20 years I’ve only lost one fridge VFD – and my BuiltRight pool heat pump ‘forgot’ its settings recently in post-hurricane power glitches but survived otherwise. Most suppressors (also available for meter install by many power companies for a monthly fee) also provide insurance reimbursement for surge-induced losses, although folks tell me the claims process can be imperfect & dicey.

I also place those $50-$100 battery backup UPS’s for a few key items like cable modems, routers, VOIP modems, set top boxes, etc. Handy to not be interrupted on VOIP phone calls or while streaming old episodes of Gilligan’s Island Many of those small UPS devices also claim to insure for fried devices. I suspect the built-in surge suppression advertised on many $10 power strips might be a bit useless, but I don’t really know.

I guess it’s always a risk/reward choice, whether to spend 25% of the product cost on a repair. If you can find a handy friend or electrician it looks like a new PIB (likely part # R0458200) can be had for $450, or a “pre-owned” PIB on ebay for $165. Enterprising folks remove key parts like that from otherwise ruined heaters and re-sell the pre-owned parts, at some additional risk to the buyer I guess, if you need to return it.

Whatever you decide - good luck!

Thank you! The modem and treadmill were both plugged into those $10 surge protectors so you may be onto something Good idea, we’ll look into that!