New House, Old Hayward Heater

[buoyant1]

Hi all. I recently purchased a new home that came with a pool installed in '09. Pool itself is in great shape with a newer filter and pump. It does have this natural gas heater, but it's currently not connected to the filter system. I opened it up and cleaned it off a bit, but it's been sitting for an unknown amount of time.

I read through the owner's manual and plan on trying to start it up. Knob is stuck in "ON" and I can't get it over to "PILOT", but I'll keep trying. But I am questioning how far I should go with trying to get this started before I call a pro. Is it even safe to do so? No HVAC chops, but have read the manual a few times.

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

I would not put any money into a 15 year old heater with that much corrosion around the burners and gas valve.

It looks like the heater may be been submerged in a flood for how high and consistent the corrosion is among the parts.

@swamprat69 may have thoughts.

 

[swamprat69]

An older millivolt heater (no external power feed needed). Lockup of gas valve selector switch and excessive corrosion indicative of severe problems. I can think of no other reason to disconnect from system other than a leak from either the heat exchanger or water manifold. I would not consider it a candidate for attempted repair due to time and money involved.

 

[buoyant1]

@swamprat69 @ajw22 Thank you both for your insight. Tried a bunch again today with jiggling the knob - no luck. Was considering having a pro come check it out this week, but sounds like it’s best to just trash it and plan on getting a new heater altogether next pool season. Will likely look to replace with a newer Hayward