Clean rodent mess out of the heater

[ChrisB76]

Hi everyone, new to the forum.

I'm wondering if anyone has experience with these old Jacuzzi heaters.

Over the winter, it looks like some critter (either a mouse or squirrel) has deposited a bunch of leaves and such into our pool heater. My first thought was to just Shop Vac this out and move on but there are a couple of questions.

First, as visible in the last picture, there is what appears to maybe be some white insulation, and given the age, the responsible thing to do would be to ask if this is potentially asbestos. I can't find a date of manufacture anywhere on it, and all other equipment has been replaced, and so I really have no clue other than it would have been any time after the mid-'60's when the house was built.

Second, I'm not sure how to get deeper into the heater to see if there are any deeper deposits on the burners, etc. The front access plate comes off to reveal what's in the pictures attached, but other than that, there's gas and water pipes and a chimney coming through all the other panels and so I'm not really sure what the best approach is to vacuum out the inside.

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Hello! I know someone whose got experience with this... gonnna ask him to check this out. @JamesW

 

[JamesW]

That heater is not usable or worth repairing in my opinion.

Get a qualified gas contractor to check it out and advise you on what your options are.

 

[ChrisB76]

Hello! I know someone whose got experience with this... gonnna ask him to check this out. @JamesW

Awesome, thanks!

 

[ChrisB76]

That heater is not usable or worth repairing in my opinion.

Get a qualified gas contractor to check it out and advise you on what your options are.

Ultimately what I ended up doing. Thanks for the reply.

 

[ChrisB76]

Just a follow-up to close the thread:

We ended up calling someone in to have a look at this. The white fluff turned out to be fur, not insulation. Best guess is that it was a rabbit that had nested over the winter since they will use their fur as nesting material. The tech filled his larger wet/dry vac about 1/2 full of material, so it's a good thing we didn't start the heater before cleaning it out.

Otherwise, the wiring is OK, and while there is the obvious corrosion, it's good to go.

 

[swamprat69]

I seriously doubt that the heater is "good to go". The 2 right hand burners do not appear to be "seated" ! How do you start up the heater? What lights the burners off? The 1/4" aluminum tubing tap into the pipe nipple entering the gas valve appears to be a jerry-rigged way to light the burners. Are there any safeties for the gas supply side of the heater??? More photos of all controls and piping would be helpful, but this heater looks like it is a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[JamesW]

We ended up calling someone in to have a look at this.

What are their qualifications?

Do they have good insurance?

This thing is not safe, in my opinion, especially being indoors.

 

[ChrisB76]

Taking everyone's advice, we never did end up starting the heater after all of this and just let the water flow through it since there is no bypass. That didn't end up lasting very long because the intake pipe from the filter ended up springing a small leak right at the heater. The plumbing to the heater has now been cut out and it's completely bypassed and a replacement plan is on the books.

Thanks again for the awesome advice everyone!

 

[1poolman1]

Taking everyone's advice, we never did end up starting the heater after all of this and just let the water flow through it since there is no bypass. That didn't end up lasting very long because the intake pipe from the filter ended up springing a small leak right at the heater. The plumbing to the heater has now been cut out and it's completely bypassed and a replacement plan is on the books.

Thanks again for the awesome advice everyone!

That's the best option. Jacuzzi stopped making heaters at least 30 years ago and that heater looks older than that.