MK Rat Proofing for Pentair heater

[BowserB]

Pentair Mastertemp 400. Tech trying to diagnose a failed comm with my IC40 SWCG noticed what he said was evidence of rats nesting in my heater. Started it up, hear the fire light and about five seconds and it's off. Fan still running but no fire. Tech opined that rats had chewed the igniter. He had no time today, as was only doing Pentair warranty calls. He also said it would likely be several weeks before I could get an appointment to repair the heater. In the meantime, I thought I'd take it apart, clean it up and look into keeping rodents out of it. From an old link here I found this:

Rat Proof 201

mkratproofing.com

From pictures I also found on TFP, it looks like something I could do on the cheap if it doesn't matter how it looks. Well, it does matter, so I'm willing to spend $60. Does anyone else here have experience with this? I might also look into some repellent, but poison is not on the table.

 

[Dirk]

I can never find the threads I've read here, but there is definitely one about this topic. @ajw22 can usually conjure up the details.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Here ya go- MK Rat Proofing

 

[ajw22]

Yup, it works. You can buy the precut pieces or roll your own.

Pentair has redesigned the panels in the latest version of the MasterTemp to make it harder for rodents to get in.

Rodents can destroy a heater.

 

[BowserB]

This is a conversation I should have had four years ago. Now that the horse is out of the barn, I'll attend to it.

 

[stevo777]

Pentair has redesigned the panels in the latest version of the MasterTemp to make it harder for rodents to get in

Do you have any information on when this change was made, and how to determine whether any given unit has those changes? My MT400 was installed in February of this year.

 

[ajw22]

Do you have any information on when this change was made, and how to determine whether any given unit has those changes? My MT400 was installed in February of this year.

The new design has less vents on the sides. This is the new design...



This is the old design...

 

[kul]

I purchased the mk rat proofing. If you aren’t sure which one to buy, use the email on the website to send a photo. That’s what I did and it worked out well. Install was super easy and I did it about a year ago.