New Raypak AVIA Pool and Spa Heaters

[LapPoolMike]

Howdy,
I'm looking to replace my Pentair MasterTemp 400 natural gas heater. I was looking at the Raypak web site and saw that they have a new AVIA "Next Generation" Pool and Spa Heater that is Wi-Fi enabled, etc., looks like it may have been introduced just in the last couple of months. It appears this is a natural gas heater? Looks like model # 404 is a 399K BTU heater, and model # 264 is a 264K BTU heater. Almost looks like the water connections might be a drop-in replacement for my MasterTemp 400, that would be a nice bonus!

Anybody have any info on these new Raypak AVIA heaters? Seen one in person? Seen one on sale anywhere? Any info you could provide would be appreciated!

 

[mknauss]

Let's give your post a bump. I have not heard of any new heaters from Raypak.

 

[Taylor1584]

Interested in this also. Here is the link. Is this permitted? Raypak – - AVIA Pool and Spa Heater, 264-404

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Do you have any Pentair automation controls?

So this looks like Raypak built a forced-air gas heater, same concept as a MasterTemp or Jandy or Hayward, and added some WiFi and external relay controls to it. Unlike their time-tested and much-less-expensive-to-fix natural convection based heater. Unless you are planning to use this new heater as an automation system, my guess is it will be a very expensive replacement for your MasterTemp with little or no difference in heating performance.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Just to be clear, TFP typically recommends the other version of Raypak heaters because it’s a convection based burner-tray style heater that’s very simple - no fans or forced combustion. They are just as efficient as any of the other vendors and a lot less expensive to fix. The Avia documents claim that this new setup protects the heat exchanger better since the combustion happens away from the exchanger but I think that’s hype. The biggest killer to the heat exchanger is poor water chemistry rotting the copper from the inside out. So I really don’t see how this unit is any different than any of the other vendors and I wouldn’t want to be one of the beta-testing Guinea pigs for their new product line.

And to the OP - if you don’t have Pentair automation, then I don’t see how this Raypak will communicate or control your IntelliFlo VSP. The IF uses and RS-485 bus for comms with either an EasyTouch or an IntelliConnect system. The IF is not designed to work with a remote relay type setup. Unless Pentair or Raypak provides a solution for that communication issue, mixing and matching different vendors is just going to be frustrating.

 

[Taylor1584]

Just to be clear, TFP typically recommends the other version of Raypak heaters because it’s a convection based burner-tray style heater that’s very simple - no fans or forced combustion. They are just as efficient as any of the other vendors and a lot less expensive to fix. The Avia documents claim that this new setup protects the heat exchanger better since the combustion happens away from the exchanger but I think that’s hype. The biggest killer to the heat exchanger is poor water chemistry rotting the copper from the inside out. So I really don’t see how this unit is any different than any of the other vendors and I wouldn’t want to be one of the beta-testing Guinea pigs for their new product line.

And to the OP - if you don’t have Pentair automation, then I don’t see how this Raypak will communicate or control your IntelliFlo VSP. The IF uses and RS-485 bus for comms with either an EasyTouch or an IntelliConnect system. The IF is not designed to work with a remote relay type setup. Unless Pentair or Raypak provides a solution for that communication issue, mixing and matching different vendors is just going to be frustrating.

Thanks for the detailed answer. Not the OP but also looking for a new heater. I will look in to the basic Raypak, I will be having automation, as I am updating pump to VS, and adding SWG.

 

[LapPoolMike]

Thanks all for the replies. After much consideration of heater options I decided to go with an electric air-source heat/cool heat pump, going with AquaCal HeatWave SuperQuiet SQ166R. I want to keep the main pool heated constantly to ~79-80 degrees (while using solar cover-I'll only need 5-8 or so degrees from the heater) for lap swimming, and I believe the heat pump should have lower operating costs than gas for that use case. It will take a little longer than a 400k BTU gas heater to heat up spillover spa but that's ok. Bonus is I should be able to chill down spillover spa to make a cold "plunge pool" in the peak of summertime! I'll report back once I have it installed and have used it a bit! Thanks.