Hayward Universal H-150 Heater Propane

[deedub75]

I'm getting beyond frustrated with my Hayward pool heater. The pool service guy was out several hours last week trying to get everything running properly. The heater is a Universal H-150 heater running on propane. The heater itself was working fine as long as I ran it in manual mode. In bypass mode it just didn't seem to be getting communications that it needed to fire. The pool guy replaced the communication cable from the pump to the Omni Logic PL as it looked like an animal had chewed on the cable but things still weren't working. Finally realized there were too many pool heaters programmed in to the Omni Logic. After erasing all of them and setting up the heater again, things finally worked. The Hayward rep had him program the pump to run at 80% when heat was called for and that was working just fine. Our temperature dropped to 55 degrees last night and I woke up to a pool that was 75 degrees. The heater thermostat was set at 78 degrees so the pool temp shouldn't have gotten that low. I checked the heater and the fan was running but there was no heat. I reset the system and could only get the heater to fire with the pump running at 100%. Anything lower than 100% was giving me the LO error. I cleaned the filter yesterday so that shouldn't be an issue. I have a 250 gallon buried propane tank and it's probably 20 feet or less from the heater. The tank is at 30% and I'm waiting for a fill. The propane company came out last week but wouldn't fill it without an inspection first because they didn't install the tank. I don't know who installed the tank and filled because the builder didn't leave us that info.

Anyone have any experience with these heaters running on propane? Is my propane tank level too low at 30% and could that cause the LO error? Just to mention that this heater is less than a year old. Our pool was finished at the end of the 2021 pool season so the heater didn't really get to run and we only were able to get in the pool one time.

 

[ajw22]

The LO error is for your water flow and has nothing to do with your propane level.

The heater has no sensor knowing what your propane level is.

Clean your filter again.

What model and size filter do you have?

 

[1poolman1]

A 30% fill on propane can cause issues with a pool heater, but not the one you are having. Heater manufacturers recommend nothing lower than 50%. At 30% you can get a very ugly flame at the burners.
From Hayward: "The Hayward heater LO code indicates a fault in the temperature limit switch, vent pressure switch, or water pressure switch. To fix it, ensure the pump is on, is wired and connected well, the water flow is above the required minimum pressure, and the filters are clean."

Ignore the vent pressure switch if yours is NOT indoors.

 

[deedub75]

Thanks guys! I did clean the filter again and the heater seems to be working fine now. I had a lot of scale on my plaster and I finally got the water balanced. I brushed a lot of the scale off and I cleaned the filter from that. I guess a lot of it was still in the water and clogged the filter up again. I ordered a 2nd filter.

We've been in this house for 6 years. We had a propane tank installed because we always like having a gas cooktop. The developer ran no natural gas out here. Right after we moved in I went to an HOA meeting and found out that the real estate investor who owned the remaining lots out here was paying t have NG put out here in the phase 2 part of the neighborhood where we lived. I'm sure the builder knew about this but neglected to tell us! I would have had gas lines run throughout the house. We had two heat pumps with electric furnaces. I was able to replace one of them to NG and still trying to figure out how to get a gas to the upstairs one without tearing up walls.

I would have loved to have had the NG pool heater installed but I didn't want to run 100+ feet of gas line to the pool and the propane tank is less than 20' from the heater. I had the propane tank filled for the first time yesterday only to find out that the tank is only a 120 gallon tank. Even the gas guy was surprised it was so small and he thought it would be at least a 500 gallon tank. I'm sure the biggest expense in having a buried tank is the actual burial itself but since I also didn't think that a buried tank could be that small, I didn't even ask the builder what size tank I paid for. I would have gladly paid the difference for a 500 gallon tank just to future proof the house. Oh well, lesson learned!