Heater Integration with Easytouch and New Pump

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H

HydrogenCyanide

Member
Jul 17, 2019
23
Ontario
I had a new pool last year by a fairly unreliable pool builder. Not a good experience. I've got the pool back up and running and have purchased a better pump as well. Everything was new and provided by the pool builder except for the heater which I purchased used from someone. The pool builder did however hook up the pumping to it.

I opened the pool about 2 weeks ago and everything went fine. Water is not crystal clear after using bleach for the first few weeks. Salt generator started working yesterday as the water is not 55 degrees. My Easytouch has both a water temperature sensor installed as well as an air temperature sensor. Yesterday, for the first time this season, I turned on the heater and everything worked fine. Heater ran for a couple of hours without issue. Since I just pruchased and installed Screenlogic 2, I downloaded the instruction manual and tried to connect the heater to the easy touch so I can control from there instead of the heater itself.

I removed the jumper at the fireman's switch and ran a 18/2 wire to the easytouch. I connected to the heater 24v at the top of the easy touch. While connecting to the heater where the fireman's jumper was connected i accidentally touched both sides at once which blew the fuse there. I replaced that fuse and connected the wires to location where the firemans jumper was connected. I then restored the power and turned on the heater from the easy touch. The heater did not fire, but about 10 seconds later I heard a poof, saw smoke and smelled horrible burning small.

I then disconnected easytouch wires and replaced the firemans jumper and the heater would no longer even turn on. Mainboard is fried and I can see where it was. I found a local source to pick up a new board today I am hoping will solve my issue.

What did I do wrong here? I really want this to be hooked up to easy touch but I really don't want to fry another board. These things aren't cheap

Any advise here would be appreciated.

Thanks
 

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So the connections were correct? I should clarify. The first time, I did the connection I did not have the power off which blew the fuse on the board where the firemans switch is. So I don't think that would have fried the main board. I then turned off all power and connected the wire again and replaced the fuse. I then restores the power and it that is when I heard the pop and smoke from the main board right under the control panel. The mistake would have been the first time but the fuse did its job. Its the second time with power off where the board was fried.
 
HC,

I do not understand how you connected to the EasyTouch.. Basically the heater passes 24 VAC through the fireman's switch. When you remove the jumper, the fireman's switch is open and the heater will not work. The EasyTouch just replaces the fireman's switch with a small Normally Open relay. When the water temp is less than the temperature you set in ScreenLogic, the relay closes and allows the heater to work. When the water temp gets up to what you want the relay opens and the heater shuts off..

Normally you connect the fireman's switch to Gas Heater connection on the main board inside the EasyTouch. One connection has the 24 Volt AC coming from the Fireman's switch and the other connection has the 24 volts going back to the other pin on the Fireman's switch.

Tell us how you wired it???

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
HC,

That sounds correct.. Show us a pic of how it is wired at the heater end and at the EasyTouch end..

If you wired as you say, I can't see how the EasyTouch could have been the cause of the problem.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
I am hoping someone can help. Purchased heater used last year. Everything worked fine and it ran fine this year for a couple of hours. I turned the heater off, removed fireman's switch and tried to hook up to easy touch. Turned heater on, it turned on then pop and smoke from the main board. Not sure if related to whatever I did in easy touch or coincidence. Main board definitely fried. Couldn't even power the heater on, never mind fire up.

Original Main board was 42001-0096A which is apparently the old version. I was able to get 42002-0007S which I believe is the new version. Replaced it. I checked all the wires to

Now when I turn on the heater and increase temp to call for heat, I immediately get Service Heater light. So I look at the back of the board and the LED for AFS is lit up. I look up the error so I assume I need to replace that. While searching on the web I noticed that I can just jumper the two cables that normally go to AFS and it should turn on the fan and fire the heater.

When I do this, the heater light flashes like it is trying to heat. It does this for about 20 seconds and then I get Service Heater LED light again but this time just to generic LED's on the back of the board. No longer AFS light.

At this point, I would normally call someone. However, the nearest sta-rite dealer is almost 100km away so it would be very expensive. Normally I would bring it to New York (I live right across from Buffalo), but with Covid we cannot cross the boarder these days.

Any idea what I should try next to get this thing going? Is there a way to tell if the fan is pooched?
 

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So I went out this morning to a video. Just prior I decided to push on all the wires to make sure there were solid connections. All off a sudden the fan fired and the heater seems to be working now without issue. It does think the pool temperature is 100 degrees though so I need to order a new thermistor. I also have not connected the unit to the easy touch as I am a little nervous.

Question- Once connected to the easy touch, does the Easy touch simply break all power to the unit? Does it allow the units fan to run when it ends a call for heat? Do you have to ensure the panel on the heater is set higher than the Easytouch? Also, would integrating with Easytouch eliminate the need for the thermistor altogether as the easy touch would be the one determining when to heat and when not to heat? Any information would be appreciated and thank you for your help.

Thanks
Marc
 
Marc,

Normally, the EasyTouch does not turn the AC power to the heater on/off, but it will control the opening and closing of the fireman's loop. This turns the heater on and off.

Generally, the heater is set to full hot, and then the EasyTouch turns the fireman's loop on when the water is below the set point in the EasyTouch and opens the fireman's loop when the water temp gets to the set point. As you point out, the EasyTouch has its own thermistor to determine the water temp.

The pump should run for a time to help cool down the heater after it shuts off, but I don't believe it keeps the heater fan on, as the only control is the fireman's loop.

Here is a sample screen showing where you can set the pool or spa temperature. You can have the heater come on when you select spa or not on what you want. You can also turn it on manually with the icons.

Spa page.JPG

Spa page.JPG

ScreenLogic Spillover button


Thanks,

Jim R.
 
HydrogenCyanide said:
Question- Once connected to the easy touch, does the Easy touch simply break all power to the unit?
Click to expand...

Yes. when the firemans switch opens the heater powers off and looks dead.

HydrogenCyanide said:
Does it allow the units fan to run when it ends a call for heat?
Click to expand...

Sounds like it does.

HydrogenCyanide said:
Do you have to ensure the panel on the heater is set higher than the Easytouch?
Click to expand...

Yes, The heater temperature should set to the maximum and heat regulation be done by the EasyTouch.

HydrogenCyanide said:
Also, would integrating with Easytouch eliminate the need for the thermistor altogether as the easy touch would be the one determining when to heat and when not to heat?
Click to expand...

No, the heater needs a functioning thermistor to work correctly. The ET also needs functioning air and water temperature thermistors to work correctly.
 
Last edited:
HydrogenCyanide said:
Question- Once connected to the easy touch, does the Easy touch simply break all power to the unit?
Click to expand...
The Easytouch does not break power to the unit. All it does is tell the heater to stop heating. The fan continues to run for a brief period to allow the heater to cool down. You can still use the control panel to change the set temperature.

The heater still needs a thermistor to work correctly. The heater temperature needs to be set higher than the Easytouch temperature.

I suspect that you have something wired incorrectly. Can you post some pictures of the wiring?

What terminal did you connect the wires to?
 
The blower will continue to run for about 45 seconds after the burner shuts off.

The J19 terminal in Easytouch just completes a 24 VAC circuit from one terminal of the fireman's switch to the other terminal. The current is less than 500 milliamps (0.5 amps).

You have something wired wrong.
 
img_3125-jpg.133510


See the fireman's switch here. It's the two center bottom terminals with the yellow wires. The right terminal has the fuse.

You remove the jumper and run a wire from one fireman's switch terminal to the one connection of the J19 terminal in Easytouch and then a wire from the other J19 terminal back to the other fireman's switch terminal.
 
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