Greetings - eti 400 not firing

[JamesW]

Also, you should not allow people to store things on the heaters.

Make sure that the room is not being filled with chemical fumes of any kind.

Proper chemical handling and storage is critical for safety and to protect equipment from chemical related damage.

Fumes from chlorine or acid can and will cause damage to everything in the room including the heaters and motors etc. as well as being a serious safety hazard.

 

[Mackboron]

It’s at the maximum, but not out of the acceptable range.

These heaters are very complex and expensive.

You really need a qualified professional to check everything.

So I wanted to thanks those for their input and provide a bit of a conclusion. I don't know if it would help someone in the future. Apparently these eti's have more than two thermal fuses. The two in the owners manual are easily replaced and on the side. Apparently there is an additional thermal fuse wrapped around the heat exchanger that breaks and opens the circuit if the exchanger gets overly warped or out of spec. This warping will likely happen due to low flow like JamesW was talking about above. I'm pretty confident this happened during this fall when the solar was kicking on and off which really messed with the water flow and happened on a regular basis. In the summer I had the gas heaters turned off while the solar system worked. The thought was that these could work in tandem. In reality that is definitely not the case. Technician says that new heat exchangers are needed to fully repair the heater to factory specs.

I don't know if this will make sense but what is interesting is that the two that are still working are 2020 models that don't have that wrap around thermal fuse connected to the circuit to stop the heater if the exchangers are overly warped. So the warping of the heat exchanger doesn't cause the heater to stop working. I can jump the 2021 heaters so they fire and bypass that thermal fuse just like the 2020 models.

All in all, I would absolutely encourage anyone that gets this heater to bypass the 'pressure switch' and connect instead to a 'flow switch' outside, which is an option but doesn't come with the heater. I 100% agree that it makes little sense that these heaters do not come with a flow switch. Thanks for sharing your thoughts Joyful Noise, JamesW, and ajw22.

Education is expensive.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Great final report but a lousy conclusion. Sorry the heat exchangers need replacing, that sucks. This kind of information is perfect though and can help someone in the future …

By any chance do you happen to have any pictures of this “hidden fuse”? Others may be interested to know it exists and what to look for.

 

[JamesW]

Technician says that new heat exchangers are needed to fully repair the heater to factory specs.

How much $$$$$$?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

How much $$$$$$?

Titanium … it’s gonna cost a whole lotta chedda ….

 

[JamesW]

The labor is also going to be expensive as those heaters are difficult to work on.

If the work is going to be done by the same Bozos that installed the heaters, I'm not sure how much confidence I would have in them.

If you can't get the installation right, then you are not qualified to do the work.

Are they going to add flow switches?

Note: Based on the fusion breakthrough just announced, I am designing a pool heater that runs on hydrogen fusion.

For $1.00 in hydrogen, the 400,000 btu/hr heater can run continuously for 100 years.

I think that I can get a working model in about 6 months if anyone is interested.

Price: TBD.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

For $1.00 in hydrogen, the 400,000 btu/hr heater can run continuously for 100 years.

I think that I can get a working model in about 6 months if anyone is interested.

Price: TBD.

You need two deuterium atoms and one tritium atom for fusion. Deuterium costs about $13/gram while tritium costs around $30,000/gram. Tritium has a half life of 12.3 years so you’ll need to refuel the heater a couple of times.

Sounds pricey to me

 

[JamesW]

You need two deuterium atoms and one tritium atom for fusion. Deuterium costs about $13/gram while tritium costs around $30,000/gram. Tritium has a half life of 12.3 years so you’ll need to refuel the heater a couple of times.

Sounds pricey to me

1 gram of mass converted into energy is 85,303,540,828 btu, which is 213,259 hours (24 years) at 400,000 btu/hr.

If we use $25.00 per 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas, that’s 0.0250 per cubic foot or $10.00 for 400 cubic feet or $10.00 per hour.

At 213,259 hours, that’s $2,132,590.00 worth of heating.

Also, those are retail prices for suckers; I got a guy that can get me the right stuff for 1/10th the price.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Also, those are retail prices for suckers; I got a guy that can get me the right stuff for 1/10th the price.

If it’s a shady guy named Viktor with a really bad Russian accent, ask him where my 100 kilos of yellow cake went !!?!??? And I don’t want to hear anymore excuses that he had to bake a lot of Christmas cookies and sometimes you spill some …