Hayward H400 Heater Troubleshooting

[mose]

My pool heater stopped working and I was wondering if someone out there could describe the troubleshooting method for diagnosing an "LO" error.

The heater is being controlled remotely. My outdoor Pool equip control panel is very old, so I'm wondering if I should put the heater in standalone and take the controller out of the equation but I do not know how to accomplish this.

I have a volt-meter but do not know where to set the dial to test across the switches.

BTW this Heater has the electronic Ignite, Any thoughts?

 

[chiefwej]

Check your owners manual. There should be a troubleshooting chart on page 38 that deals with the "LO" error code. Don't have a manual? Try this.

 

[mose]

Woh Woh slow down killa. Thanks for the tip. I have the manual and I've read it. I am looking for a technicians prospective on how to test the components of the heater.

As I said, I have a volt meter but am not very versed on how to use it or even sure it is the right tool for the job. I thought if I made the life time contribution that I would get more than "Read the Manual".

BTW: any thoughts on how I can take it off-line to rule out the controller? com'on guy's I'm a newbie here just looking for some skilled advice.

 

[ps0303]

I believe page 17 in the manual has the info you need for putting it back into normal mode not being controlled by your controller. It all has to do with the dip switch settings.

As for "LO", it could be the pressure switch or one of the temp limits inside.

 

[jblizzle]

Whether you are a supporter or not makes no difference on the help you will receive at this forum, which is mostly pool owners helping other pool owners. You asked a very specific technical question about a piece of equipment that 99.99% of the members have never touched and thus have no experience with troubleshooting it. Yet, chief was willing to put in the effort to try to help and located the manual for you; now we see how you respond to the effort we put in to help ....

You happened to get lucky and the second response is from a member that may have actually worked on the equipment since they are in the industry. Hope that is good enough for you to figure out what you need to know. If not, you likely need to contact someone local to get hands on help.

 

[mose]

Hey guy's, I am truly sorry for my actions. Is there anyway that we can start over. I am looking for some collective help. I have some knowledge to share and I believe it would be a mutually rewarding compromise.

How would you like to proceed?

 

[jblizzle]

Just move on and ask questions ... pretend nothing happened ...

 

[n240sxguy]

Exactly! Water under the bridge. I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty good with anything mechanical or electrical. I don't have a heater, but I have a pretty good understanding of how they work. I doubt I'll help much in this thread, but I'm along for the ride either way.


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[mose]

I want to take this heater offline (stand-alone). I understand how to configure the dip switches. What do you guy's think I need to do to get this heater offline.

Does this meter look like something I could use to troubleshoot the wiring and proof the individual switches that make this heater work?

 

[n240sxguy]

I can only reference two of your questions. Maybe someone else can take care of the rest. 1. That meter should be able to measure anything you need. The only thing it probably won't do is measure amps. You probably don't need that function in this case anyway.
2. You can use a wire of the same gauge that is used on the heater wiring to make a jumper. Another option is RadioShack carries jumper strips that may work for you. They come in a couple different sizes, so you may need to buy a couple and take the ones back that don't work. If they don't have the single jumpers, you can use this one and just clip it to the correct size.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103227


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[ps0303]

You can use any type of wire for a jumper for testing purposes. All you are passing thru it is 24V. Any meter will work that will check voltage and continuity.

You're not going to like this but, that heater is junk. It is the second worst model Hayward made. The current model is probably the first. OK so now that I said that lets see what's wrong.

To eliminate the LO, you can jump out the pressure switch, upper left hand corner in the second picture. Just disconnect the two wires going to it and connect them together. If LO goes away, you have a bad pressure switch. Also, make sure you have good water flow going thru the heater as well. If you have poor flow and you jump out the switch it will light, unless you have other issues, and it will start knocking and banging with bad water flow.

BTW, as of tomorrow Friday 9/5, I will not be online for almost two weeks as I'm going off grid to Alaska.

 

[mose]

Thanks guy's I will give it a try this weekend. Meter (check). Jumper (check). Stay away from Hayward heaters (check). Make sure water flow is high enough (check). Easy way to jump out Pressure switch (check).