Jandy JXI (200N) heater short blowing PDB

[kyleshea]

My soul is getting crushed Received my Fenwal in the mail today and it didn't resolve the problem. It was however necessary to replace, since I could never previously get 120V at both F1 and F2 to power the other 120V leg of the 240VAC blower. NOW F1 and F2 to ground BOTH test 120V so I'd say the Fenwal relay is closing and power is flowing properly here. BUT the blower still isn't coming on. I'm also getting 120V between every wire and ground now at the blower connector including red and black, where previously either red or black (can't recall which but one is switched from the Fenwal) was dead.

Barring some type of relay/switch/limit failure, it just has to the blower itself, internal motor wiring, or the motor capacitor - right? The safety switches seem like they'd wait for the blower, and being on the low voltage side and working before the incident i doubt they cooked. The blower DID run on the bench at 120VAC so I'm puzzled, but perhaps that means one winding is dead and not another or something or I wired it so wrong started and shouldn't have . I checked the blower motor for a short to ground with the power off and verified no continuity (open) from each color to ground. It's sounding like I need to replace this blower motor or capacitor but I hate to spend the bucks and have another heartbreak!

 

[setsailsoon]

My soul is getting crushed Received my Fenwal in the mail today and it didn't resolve the problem. It was however necessary to replace, since I could never previously get 120V at both F1 and F2 to power the other 120V leg of the 240VAC blower. NOW F1 and F2 to ground BOTH test 120V so I'd say the Fenwal relay is closing and power is flowing properly here. BUT the blower still isn't coming on. I'm also getting 120V between every wire and ground now at the blower connector including red and black, where previously either red or black (can't recall which but one is switched from the Fenwal) was dead.

Barring some type of relay/switch/limit failure, it just has to the blower itself, internal motor wiring, or the motor capacitor - right? The safety switches seem like they'd wait for the blower, and being on the low voltage side and working before the incident i doubt they cooked. The blower DID run on the bench at 120VAC so I'm puzzled, but perhaps that means one winding is dead and not another or something or I wired it so wrong started and shouldn't have . I checked the blower motor for a short to ground with the power off and verified no continuity (open) from each color to ground. It's sounding like I need to replace this blower motor or capacitor but I hate to spend the bucks and have another heartbreak!

Here's something you could try. Change the power to 120v. Make sure you change the voltage selector board to 120 and wire it with 120v using a temporary power cord. Be sure of course to remove the 240v supply.

Chris

 

[kyleshea]

Here's something you could try. Change the power to 120v. Make sure you change the voltage selector board to 120 and wire it with 120v using a temporary power cord. Be sure of course to remove the 240v supply.

Chris

That's a great idea. Flip the board and wire it 120V from a power cord directly to the red/black/green on the PDB. Just wondering though, if changed to 120 - is the blower fan going to run at 120? The fan connector clip will still be connected to the PDB and wired as it was; will it just "work" without having to change anything? Maybe that's part of what flipping the board does?

 

[kyleshea]

Wired 120V, flipped the board, exact same behavior. Single blink, no blower. I'm going to have to bit the bullet and replace the blower and hope it wasn't $700 of wasted money, or call a pro. UGH!

 

[setsailsoon]

Wired 120V, flipped the board, exact same behavior. Single blink, no blower. I'm going to have to bit the bullet and replace the blower and hope it wasn't $700 of wasted money, or call a pro. UGH!

I hate to see you do that. Can you wire it up with jumpers direct to the plug?

 

[kyleshea]

I hate to see you do that. Can you wire it up with jumpers direct to the plug?

I probably could, but I honestly can't make sense of how that would need to happen... I've studied the motor wiring diagram (attached) and I can't figure out what wires to send to the plug. I THINK what I'm seeing here for 240V is get a 120V hot to RED, then another 120V hot to BLUE/YELLOW, ground to GREEN, and nothing to white or black. I can get 120V from F1/F2 which comes from the PDB; but not sure where to get the other 120V unless I take it directly from one of the incoming hot legs. that goes TO the PDB.

 

[setsailsoon]

It doesn't look all that confusing but I've been through the bowls of this heater many times. Messing with this, especially at 240 vac can be dangerous and damaging if you make a mistake. My advice would be to get a qualified electrician to help. But I'll defer to more of an expert like @ajw22 or @JamesW . Let's see what they have to say.

Chris

 

[kyleshea]

Heater FIXED!!! Just in case anybody is interested or if anybody with the same issue stumbles upon this thread - here’s the deal. FUN FACT: A blower motor can run just fine tested wired 120v but not at 240v as it’s wired when connected to the heater. Not sure if this means the internal wires were cooked or the connector clip was indeed damaged - but a new blower solved my last problem with the ignition error messages.

Whatever caused a short in my heater (I did find a small section of exposed 120v on an incoming hot which could have arced or shorted to ground) - knocked out almost everything on the 120v side of this thing: Power distro board, transformer, Fenwal, and blower motor. Thankfully I was able to replace everything and got several parts gently used on ebay which made the entire repair $350 which I feel like saved me a ton over calling for service. And - I really learned this heater!

 

[setsailsoon]

Congrats and thanks for the follow up!