Rheem 156 Pool Heater on the fritz

[Jayco517]

We have a Rheem 156 pool heater hooked up. The heater was purchased new this year along with our pool. It has operated just fine all season until Thursday. Fired it up and it ran for awhile, then noticed hot water was no longer coming out of the return in the pool and knew there was no way it had reached setpoint yet. Took a look at the display and it is showing a "Rollout SW Open" Error. After consulting the manual it says that this is likely caused by soot buildup.

Is this normal on a brand new unit? We have only used the heater maybe 10 days out of the summer.

The manual also lists a de-sooting procedure....which involves removing the heat exchanger...is this something the average homeowner should be able to accomplish on their own or would this require a professional?

 

[uncfan1573]

Before you get into totally removing the exchanger. You may want to try just removing the headers and see if you can see any build up inside. The headers are where you pvc connect to the heater btw. They are connected by some nuts I believe they are 12 mm. I personally have never had this issue in ky since out water dosent have high calcium levels. I'm not sure if that's what has caused this.

 

[Jayco517]

Before you get into totally removing the exchanger. You may want to try just removing the headers and see if you can see any build up inside. The headers are where you pvc connect to the heater btw. They are connected by some nuts I believe they are 12 mm. I personally have never had this issue in ky since out water dosent have high calcium levels. I'm not sure if that's what has caused this.

I will have the hubby take a look at the heater this weekend. Thanks for the feedback!