Heater spitting out rusty water?

[Mike5150]

Hi there. I have a gas heater hooked up to my pool, and whenever I have the valve to the heater turned off for more then a day or so, I get a big cloud of what I'm pretty sure is rust shot into my pool. I would have thought that something like a pool heater should have stainless steel or aluminum tubing that won't rust for it's piping, but apparently not mine.

I'm assuming that eventually it will rust through and I'll need to either buy a new heater or make some serious repairs, but until then is there anything I can do? Are there any problems with water chemistry that I should watch for?

Thanks!

 

[JohnT]

What brand/model of heater? Is your pH in line?

 

[Mike5150]

It's a Raypak C 155- C E N

I keep my pH between 7.6 and 7.8 for the most part. Occasionally it has gotten down to 7.2 before I caught it.