Jandy Lite 2 LJ Heater Not Working [SOLVED]

[dukegrad]

My 13yr old Lite 2 LJ400 heater was working fine, until it wasn't... After chasing several things, it ended up being a bad temp sensor.

A few general troubleshooting tips that might help others...

1. Make sure your heater's controller/LCD display is working so you can see any error codes. In my case, the screen was dead so like any engineer I just dove inside with a multimeter. Don't do what I did... spend the $250 and replace the display first.
2. Refer to the Jandy troubleshooting guide. I believe if you test voltage to the SAFETY pin while the system is calling for heat, that should be a shortcut to quickly verify if all flow, fireman and other sensors upstream are operating normally. If no voltage, then follow the various tests for each area as noted in the guide.
3. In my case the safety pin, all sensors and ignitor all checked out OK / in spec, but yet it still wouldn't fire. I even replaced the main power board and power conversion board for good measure (also because I was flying blind without a display and couldn't find any info like what I'm sharing here).
4. What I didn't know, and wasn't clear in the guide above, was that if you have a faulty temp sensor the heater will not fire. Seems obvious now, but again I didn't see that called out in the guide. Refer to point #1 above. If I had swapped the display first I would have seen the FL1 error that indicates a bad temp sensor. When I finally tested the sensor it was open = bad. And when I say bad, I mean the wire was melted/corroded in half (see photo). Yep, that's definitely a problem!
5. Swapped out sensor and voila. Back in business. Jandy P/N R0367000, ~$75 on eBay. Mine came with new insulation and bracket.

Sensor Replacement
Getting to the sensor on the Lite 2 requires removing the top cover of the heater. It's not hard, but 13yrs of outdoors is not kind on sheet metal so it's a pain- and even more of a pain to put back on and line everything up. Also, the temp sensor sits at the top of the heater. With everything turned off, if your sensor seal is good (I hope, otherwise = leak), you'll get suction that will make the sensor seem like it's seized into the well. I opened the valve on the back of my filter gauge to release system pressure, sprayed a little PB Blaster around the grommet holding in the sensor, did a couple taps with a screwdriver and it eventually worked its way out using a screwdriver and pliers to work it out. Patience is a virtue on this as you don't want to break off the sensor in the well, lest you have an even bigger problem. When you go to install the new one, first clean any crud out of the well to ensure a good seal, then insert the temp into the well and get the grommet as tight fitting as you can without damaging the sensor or wires, finally screw in the bracket taking care to not pinch the wire. Tightening the bracket will provide the extra oomf to ensure it all seals up.

What took a few hours of troubleshooting and days of waiting on various parts I could now do again in about 30mins. Hope this helps someone!

-e

 

[ajw22]

What took a few hours of troubleshooting and days of waiting on various parts I could now do again in about 30mins. Hope this helps someone!


View attachment 323305

It always seems to be that way.

Good story. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Spidereggs]

Thanks for the troubleshooting guide. My control panel is dead as well but I cant even find one for sale. The unit is 17 years old so I guess they're getting tough to find. But apparently the control panel is not needed to run the heater if its wired into the remote Pentair system. I did not know that and almost called it a day. So I ran through the steps and failed on the fireman switch (a) port which essentially equals a $500 power control board. I pulled the board and saw the small current transformer was clearly fried. Luckily I had an old parts board with a good CT. About 2 minutes of soldering and saved $500. Things usually don't go this well when it comes to me and electronics. Thanks again!

 

[1poolman1]

Thanks for the troubleshooting guide. My control panel is dead as well but I cant even find one for sale. The unit is 17 years old so I guess they're getting tough to find. But apparently the control panel is not needed to run the heater if its wired into the remote Pentair system. I did not know that and almost called it a day. So I ran through the steps and failed on the fireman switch (a) port which essentially equals a $500 power control board. I pulled the board and saw the small current transformer was clearly fried. Luckily I had an old parts board with a good CT. About 2 minutes of soldering and saved $500. Things usually don't go this well when it comes to me and electronics. Thanks again!

Unfortunately, operating the heater without the control board may be bypassing the built-in safety system; pressure switch, high-limits, unless power is going through them and then to the Pentair. Please be careful.