Mouse in Pool Heater

Jump to latest Follow Reply
3

3mar67

0
Jun 11, 2011
22
GTA Ontario, Canada
Hi everyone.
I switched on my Pentair Mastertemp 300 natural gas pool heater today (first time this season) and it did not fire up.
The blower is blowing, and everything seems fine, except it won't ignite.
The "service heater" light is on.
I took the panels off and took a smaller metal panel off which revealed a diagnostic LED.
The light was making a single blink......meaning airflow fault.
Upon inspection, it's obvious a mouse (mice) had been building a nest in the blower.
Also, the exhaust doesn't seem as powerful as it used to...not sure though.
All the electrical wires appear to be intact, couldn't find any chewed wires.
And there are no fault codes on the control panel.

Anyone have any ideas?
Is it time to call a technician?

Thanks
 
Look for spider webs or more mouse nests in the air tubes. There's a sensor that relies on sensing a good draft before it will allow the thing to fire, and if the airflow is blocked, it won't sense enough and it won't fire.

PS: Try killing the circuit breakers to the heater for a few minutes. It might just need a reset. I've fixed my heater twice now with just that.
 
Did they chew the air orifice plate? If so that needs to be replaced. Make sure you cleaned it out good. Also unscrew the bottom bolt on the header, where the water flows in and out. If when you remove the bolt you get water pouring out, your heat exchanger has been breached. Water in the can will cause the blower motor to not be as strong since there isn't enough room for the air to flow.
 
If the air flow is not strong enough, you may still have some foreign material in there. This may require you to go in deeper. I would start with taking the blower unit off and looking in there to see if there is anything. Also, those hoses control the vacuum pressure switch. If anything is impeding the air flow in them the unit will not start.
 
Also check those air tubes to see if there are any nicks/cuts in them from the mouse. Even the smallest nick can cause the unit to error on the air switch. The white plastic piece you have the arrow on in the picture is your air orifice.
 
If you had a nest where the arrow indicates, you could very well have more nest IN the blowers' impeller. This would explain the decreased flow you are reporting. You may, or may not be able to clear the obstruction from it. I have been lucky (so far) and have been able to clear all the obstructed blowers i have come across. The good news is that the smallest opening of the blowers vanes is the first part. Hopefully, you will be able to see, and get all debris out to restore proper air velocity. Removing the white part (air horn) will give you better access to the blowers inlet.
 
Well, I removed the white plastic air horn or air orifice and stuck a vacuum cleaner hose in there.
I was able to suck out some debris.
I unplugged all the hoses...blew air through them.
I also stuck the vacuum hose down the exhaust elbow.
I tapped all around the blower housing to try and loosen any other debris...and then vacuumed again.
Then I turned on the heater and noticed a much stronger exhaust, like it was when it was new (it's less than 3 years old).
A tiny bit of shredded paper came out the exhaust.
And I noticed the "service heater" light did not come on.
I crossed my fingers, and sure enough it fired right up.
I'm gonna run it a couple hours or more and make sure everything is OK.
Thanks for your help everyone.
 
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