Heater destroyed in 1 month? So confused! [pics]

[schoeps]

Hi again, thank you for the help and advice. Waiting to hear what the MSP from Raypak says when thry come out to check the unit re" gas pressure. Please understand I am a total novice to this!

As far as equipment, I posted in another reply pictures, although I am sure they are not detailed for your liking, so here is more gear related pics. Thanks again guys.

 

[JamesW]

What does the service person say about what happened?

Are they licensed to install gas appliances?

Are they a Raypak authorized dealer?

It seems like anyone qualified to install the equipment should be able to tell you what's going on.

 

[JamesW]

Is this the response from the installer?

 

[JamesW]

I got lucky...now I need help adding a flow switch

Evening, TFP World! We have an autocover that stays closed except when the pool is in use or needs to be left open to breath. Today, it was a beautiful day, so I left it open most of the day. I did not appreciate how much Crud was coming off the trees, and allowed both skimmer baskets to get...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[schoeps]

Response from Raypak

"Looks like the unit is suffering from low flow conditions (not gas pressure as I first indicated) and the water chemistry reports we've received indicate aggressive water chemistry conditions. There is quite a bit of corrosion present on the UG bypass as well."

Nice thing is, they are sending out a replacement heat exchanger, but I have to pay to install it. I am ok with that. I will say, fron a customer service standpoint, Raypak has been great!

 

[JamesW]

Looks like the unit is suffering from low flow conditions (not gas pressure as I first indicated)

What is causing the low flow?

Why are the heater safety controls not preventing operation during low flow?

What is the gas pressure?

Did they test the pressure?

If yes, then what was it?

If no, why not?

Unless you actually test the gas pressure, it is foolish to assume that the pressure is Ok.

It takes like 2 seconds to test the gas pressure and it seems like no one knows how to do it.

In my opinion, the person is just guessing and throwing parts at it hoping the problem will go away.

Unless you get this figured out as to exactly what caused the problem, you are probably going to be in the same exact situation in days or weeks.

the water chemistry reports we've received indicate aggressive water chemistry conditions.

What reports indicate aggressive chemistry?

 

[JamesW]

You really need to test the gas pressure yourself or you need to be there when someone does it so that you can see exactly what it is.

You need to do this before anything else is done.

You should also do this as the unit is started to ensure good pressure for static and dynamic.

I would install a real flow switch to replace the pressure switch to ensure good flow during operation.

 

[JamesW]

I'm not buying the low flow explanation or the chemistry explanation.

The person is just guessing and not relying on any sort of rigorous analysis to make a definitive diagnosis.

 

[LoneWolfArcher]

Honestly, that gas installation is scary. Even though the flex line is coming out of a PVC pipe, I can’t image that’s anywhere near being up to code. NG should be buried and straight piped from the source to the heater. All those joints and flex line is a hazard.

I hope you get it figured out and you should consult a plumber with a license in gas work. Very bad things can happen when gas lines are not up to code.

Not to mention that it is just waiting to be stepped on and compromising the joints.

 

[JamesW]

What does this line go to?

Can this valve completely block all water flow?

It looks like deck jets?

Does the heater ever run when the deck jets are on?

If yes, then this can create low flow with enough pressure to activate the heater's pressure switch.

This is why the manufacturers need to use a real flow switch and not a pressure switch.

They can include a flow switch on SWGs, so they can include one on a heater.

 

[JamesW]

Check your salt cell to make sure that it is clean.

 

[JamesW]

In my opinion, the copper tubes do not look like they are damaged by chemicals.

The tube ends look like they are full thickness.

The ends of the tubes are not exposed to full heat, but they are exposed to chemistry, so that points to a heat issue and not chemistry.

If it was a chemistry problem, the ends of the tubes would be damaged and they look fine.

The interior looks like heat damage, which can be low flow or high gas pressure.

Low flow should have triggered the High Limit Switches.

In my opinion, the most likely cause is high gas pressure causing excessive heat.

 

[JamesW]

You can see the plastic bubbling on the return header side indicating excessive water temperature.

This can be low water flow and/or excessive gas pressure.

 

[JamesW]

You can remove the thermal regulator (Unitherm Governor) and test it to see if it opens at 105 degrees.

 

[Poolbreh]

Check to see if the pressure switch is stuck closed. The piston pops up and engages the microswitch.
You can also test the continuity

 

[Mdragger88]

The pool is a Salt Pool, so to boost chlorination (instead of using the skimmers), I presume there should be something on the pool return post heater?

To increase the chlorine level you should use liquid chlorine poured slowly in front of a return then see if the swg can maintain. If you wish to use tabs get a floater.
If the poolstore testing you had done is at all accurate (it’s often not) your cya is a bit low for an outdoor swg pool- this would make it hard for the swg to keep up as the sun would consume the fc as quickly as the cell makes it.
FC/CYA Levels
But… Before increasing cya you need to test with a proper test kit to be sure of your actual levels & to be able to do an
Overnight Chlorine Loss Test to rule out an algae issue.
Test Kits Compared

 

[YippeeSkippy]

If you don't know how to do the checks and tests being suggested, please say so? Then these smart gas pros can tell you what to ask your gas plumber to do to check these elements out.

Maddie

 

[Ahultin]

What does this line go to?

In the ops original post they mentioned the valve after the heater went to fountains.

Also, going back to the original post, the three year old heater "started on fire", I think your gas pressure issue is spot on and raypac/service tech are looking at it as two separate isolated issues instead of one (likely to the ops advantage as gas pressure would indicate failure of the regulator sometime at the end of the three year old heaters life so a lack of maintenance vs a warranty issue)

 

[JamesW]

What I find ridiculous is that it does not seem that any of the so-called professionals have done anything other than make random guesses as to what might have caused the problem.

I don’t understand how the gas pressure has not been checked yet.

This is the first thing that any qualified gas contractor should have checked.

If it has been checked, why hasn’t the customer been notified about the findings?

 

[reggiehammond]

I’m pretty surprised that R

What I find ridiculous is that it does not seem that any of the so-called professionals have done anything other than make random guesses as to what might have caused the problem.

I don’t understand how the gas pressure has not been checked yet.

This is the first thing that any qualified gas contractor should have checked.

If it has been checked, why hasn’t the customer been notified about the findings?

I can’t believe Raypak is willing to replace given the water boiled the plastic away! It’s obvious something is very wrong and the absolute worst wrong course of action for OP is just to drop in the replacement and hope for the best. But that seems to be where this is headed!