Heater and pump interaction

[ekadd]

Hi all, I'm completely new to having a pool. My gas line was just hooked up and I started using the heater. I understand that as the pump runs the water is heated as it passes through the heater, easy enough. However, I noticed that when I stopped the pump the heater then gives a warning 'check flow' as obviously there is no water flowing through the heater with the pump turned off. So my question is this, when I am not running the pump am I supposed to be turning off the heater each time, or is it okay to have the heater giving off this warning whenever the pump isn't running? After lots of reading on this site my plan was to only run the pump for a portion of the day, as needed, so turning the heater on and off all the all the time is not at all practical and I assume the feedback will be that I do not have to do that. I just want to make sure I'm not causing damage to the heater by leaving it on all the time even when there is no water passing through.

In a few days I plan to post my full test results from my TF-100 test kit - I just wanted to do some initial tinkering first before posting.

Thanks!

 

[denniswiseman]

I would wire it so that the pump would run only when the heater was working, with a bypass switch when I wanted the pump to run independently of the heater
My heat pump controls the circulating pump but I have a switch that allows me to run the circulating pump 24/7 (useful for slamming)

 

[Rollercoastr]

I would wire it so that the pump would run only when the heater was working,

Did you mean to say: wire it so that the heater would run only when the pump was running?

My heater and pump were on the same timed circuit, so there was no way the heater pressure/flow switch could fail and burn the heater up. Then I got a VS pump with it's own built-in electronic timer, so in order to not mess up the pump, the circuit that also powers the heater stays on all the time.

I make it work, but I'm less comfortable with it.

 

[jbb2388]

Same thing happens with my equipment. If I want to run the heater, I simply keep the pump on.