Jandy JXI400N heater says on in app, doesn't turn on except manually

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OfficeReefer

Well-known member
Jul 27, 2021
67
Argyle, TX
Hello Amazing TFP people. Weird issue with the heater that I am still scratching my head on... I think this is intermittent, which makes me think electrical or component related....

In the past few months, if I went to turn on the heater in the Aqualink app, the heater would come on in the app UI but would not actually turn on. One could go outside, see the message about controlled by TSTAT and nothing.... but, I checked the gas valve was fully open... then pressed spa and the light went red and started heating after a buzz or so. The app stated heating.... big win.
However, this does not always happen. It has been in the 30's or so over the past month and when I went to turn on the heater, same thing... except heater would not turn on... meaning no red when I pressed spa... UI in the app said it was on, but nada. I would hear what sounded like a long buzz, then a pause and another buzz and maybe one more. I had a pool person out to look at it and they thought it was the gas valve.

I have had my SWG replaced in the past six months.... bad cable job after..... I have also had to have lighting replaced.... this was a mess with the same company but TFP got us back on track.

Anyone have any thoughts on what else I might check?
 
Also, today we tried again. It was about 50F or so outside and the heater was turned on via app after spa being turned on for 5m. Went outside and heater did not fire up. Pressed the button and it buzzed a few times but nothing.

Turned if off until this afternoon around 60F and did this again via the app. This time, everything worked as expected and we did not have to push any button on the heater.
 
It's the four way... there's no 2 way at the top right. I reviewed the workbook while awaiting some feedback... https://www.doheny.com/media/Pdfs/7609-instructions.pdf

Page 24 and 25 of the document.... I get down to step 15, I think. If I recall, there's a buzzing but only an occasional heating afterwards when it works. Usually, I see IGN fault and the spa light is red. The app just says heating
I do see that on pages 17 and 18 describe the transformer and ignition.... I'm wondering if that's the issue rather than gas valve. I do recall smelling some gas just before it fired up yesterday as expected, but today.... nothing.
 
OfficeReefer said:
It's the four way... there's no 2 way at the top right. I reviewed the workbook while awaiting some feedback... https://www.doheny.com/media/Pdfs/7609-instructions.pdf

Page 24 and 25 of the document.... I get down to step 15, I think. If I recall, there's a buzzing but only an occasional heating afterwards when it works. Usually, I see IGN fault and the spa light is red. The app just says heating
I do see that on pages 17 and 18 describe the transformer and ignition.... I'm wondering if that's the issue rather than gas valve. I do recall smelling some gas just before it fired up yesterday as expected, but today.... nothing.
Click to expand...

Switch to the fireman's switch method. The 4-wire gives you nothing more.
 
Thanks, @PoolGate you think it's the wire between the PCB and the RS unit?

I was thinking it might be something like the Fenwall board, maybe HSI or something.... I do recall that yesterday, I smelled a small amount of gas just prior to the unit firing on. It does not always come on... for instance today, no matter what I did... even trying to manually start the unit after. It would not go past IGN fault steps... my pool person stated they found a used gas valve but I don't want them to have to replace that if not needed.
 
OfficeReefer said:
Thanks, @PoolGate you think it's the wire between the PCB and the RS unit?

I was thinking it might be something like the Fenwall board, maybe HSI or something.... I do recall that yesterday, I smelled a small amount of gas just prior to the unit firing on. It does not always come on... for instance today, no matter what I did... even trying to manually start the unit after. It would not go past IGN fault steps... my pool person stated they found a used gas valve but I don't want them to have to replace that if not needed.
Click to expand...

I got this error when my ignitor went out. Replacing the ignitor fixed it, however. Is this a new heater? It could be a heater issue or it could be a communications issue between the heater and Aqualink. The 2-wire is a simpler connection.
 

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Did you remove and check condition of the igniter?

Have you checked your gas pressures with a manometer? Smelling gas does not mean you have sufficient gas pressure.

Have you checked for 24V at the gas valve when it does not ignite?

Do you hear the click of the gas valve opening?

You could have an intermittent flame sense error - Heater Flame Sensing - Further Reading

@swamprat69 can help more with diagnostics when he wanders by.
 
Last edited:
OfficeReefer said:
Newish?

If I recall, it was installed about this time of year, four years ago.
Click to expand...

It certainly would not hurt to replace the ignitor, especially if you are smelling gas. That is the telltale sign it is bad. It is a consumable.

FYI: I have never had one last 4 years.
 
I don't normally smell gas. Just that once before it fired up and in the past, occasionally in the same circumstance, if I recall.

Today, I went to use it as normal... outside temp about 45-50F. We also noticed if the air blower is on, that the heater is not able to get to full heat and the water is cooler out of the jets. I pressed on for the spa heater in the app, it turns on and says heating....

I go outside, there is IGN fault. I also see the unit is NOT a JXi400N but JXi400P.... I wonder if this matters because I don't have a propane tank anywhere?
 
OfficeReefer said:
I don't normally smell gas. Just that once before it fired up and in the past, occasionally in the same circumstance, if I recall.

Today, I went to use it as normal... outside temp about 45-50F. We also noticed if the air blower is on, that the heater is not able to get to full heat and the water is cooler out of the jets. I pressed on for the spa heater in the app, it turns on and says heating....

I go outside, there is IGN fault. I also see the unit is NOT a JXi400N but JXi400P.... I wonder if this matters because I don't have a propane tank anywhere?
Click to expand...

I believe the only difference is the orifice. And I think one can be converted to the other. Did you purchase it new? If it was purchased as propane and now is running natural gas without being converted, that would explain a lot. Unless you have a buried propane tank feeding it that is running out of fuel?
 
Possibly. I do see something about a kit, but the descriptions indicate it's more of a replacement for existing models of NG.

I looked over the Quick Reference starting at page 13 https://waterlinetechnologies.com/content/Zodiac/JXI QRG.pdf
and the manual at page 15 https://waterlinetechnologies.com/content/Jandy/H0574300.PDF

I don't see much referenced about such kits or what the difference really appears to be other than maybe pressure, pipe size requirements and length of run.
I am running maybe 50ft from the meter and I think I have 1 1/2" pipes, under the property to the unit with an upside down J-shaped shut-off valve that is fully open and properly connected with T-shape into the unit. I'm guessing the next steps is get a replacement HSI first then try

  1. Gas Pressure Test
  2. Fenwall Ignition Unit
  3. Gas Valve
  4. Consider a new unit since it's already 4 years on the exchanger and has no bypass.... worth it?
 
The app only tells you when heat is called for. This won't tell you if the heater is actually working. All of the apps do this. Your com wire should have been a 2 wire connection. Also the propane conversion kit is just a small thick washer or orrifice and every gas heater is interchangeable easily. This sounds like you have an igniter issue. Being 4 years old however you may be saving yourself headache at this point and getting a new unit. I've seen these jandys heaters fail after a year. Pentair's mastertemps I've seen fail even quicker. The electronics and sensor placements are horrible as well as the amount of rodents that get in and chew everything up. I don't like admitting this as I am a pentair guy but the Hayward universal series heaters are the best right now. Master temps and jandys are years behind and have weak exchangers that end up copper staining the surface of the pool all too often. This is my personal opinion but any heater will talk to your panel. I would have a local heater company check it out and do it right. They can tell you if it's worth it or not.
 
Thanks for the advice, everyone. I reached out to my new pool guy... he found a used gas valve from an older unit in my neighborhood. He switched it out and it's worked flawlessly. The igniter and fenwall ignition unit works fine and tests.... he also said he saw a blue ring with a conversion kit... so the propane thing is fine.
 

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