New Raypak heater made in 2018, installed 4 weeks ago

[cbodie]

This new knowledge is driving me a little crazy. I don't know if I'm being too picky and some advice from cooler heads in this forum may help a lot. We negotiated the pool renovation, replaster etc plus a new Raypak P-M336A-EN-X for our 20,000 gallon pool. Finally was given the go ahead to run it, but right off the bat after a few minutes the code High limit 2 Fault came on. I did all the trouble shooting to discover I didn't have the by pass valve in the exact required position so there was some water flow restriction and ultimately got it running without issues. However, in the process of figuring it all out I found out that the brand new heater was actually produced in October of 2018. I made some calls to companies that sell these on line and they almost get offended when I asked what year the heater they are selling was produced and they all said they only sell heaters produced in 2020.
Should I bring this up to the contractor? How can I bring it up without being confrontational? Should I just let go? He has not collected the payment for all the work, which surprises me, but I guess he trusts us enough and must not be hurting for money. He additionally did not have to redo any plumbing because he was replacing the exact old heater, no new gas line and further no gas inspection, which is actually required in our county, even if you are just swapping out an appliance. No discount on the heater, full price plus installation.

 

[ajw22]

I would make a casual comment to the contractor about getting a 2018 product and see how he responds.

My concern would be if Raypak gives you the full warranty starting this month. I would call Raypak to confirm the warranty status of the unit you received and also ask if there has been any model changes with the 2018 and 2020 models.

The answers you get would tell you how much you push the issue. I would not pay the contractor until you have some answers.

@ps0303 @Pool Clown thoughts on this situation?

 

[cbodie]

I would make a casual comment to the contractor about getting a 2018 product and see how he responds.

My concern would be if Raypak gives you the full warranty starting this month. I would call Raypak to confirm the warranty status of the unit you received and also ask if there has been any model changes with the 2018 and 2020 models.

The answers you get would tell you how much you push the issue. I would not pay the contractor until you have some answers.

@ps0303 @Pool Clown thoughts on this situation?

Here' s how it went. I followed your suggestion and in a casual manner I told him that in the process of trying to figure out what was going on with the heater I started to read various articles and many said to look at the serial number and model. Then I told him that I checked it out and discovered that it was a 2018 model and it did not have the feature ( PROTEK SHIELD ) that was in the brochure he had given to me, which I have in the contract folder. It went very easy from there. He said his guy would come out to re-plumb the chlorinator and take some pictures. A little while ago he told me he talked to the regional rep and they were going to send him the PROTEK SHIELD header. He says that's the only difference, and that all the other components are the same and that it still carries a 2 year warranty. I thought it was only 1 year, but I'm not arguing if it's 2. It went smooth, not confrontational so for now keep moving forward and another lesson learned. Even after you have re over and over everything something else can come up. By the way he said register it when we install the new header and we should be good from there.

 

[ajw22]

Sounds like you are dealing with a good guy who wants to do the right thing. Document everything in writing because people’s memory can get fuzzy in 18 months.

 

[cbodie]

We have had 3 Raypak gas heaters and had problems with the roll out switch from the beginning. Every time the wind blew in just the right way it would blow it out and we had to get it replaced. They installed the tall stack on it and that solved the problem. Take a look at this video on you tube and see if this helps you. I just don't have a picture right now that I could post for you but its exactly what we have and if you are handy the video shows you how to install it.
Raypak® Outdoor (High Wind) Stack for Gas Fired Heaters

 

[cbodie]

I'm sorry this previous message went where it was not suppose to go.

 

[ps0303]

The warranty is based on install date. Yes some supply houses still have old stock for a reason that they don't sell many of the units. Warranty is usually 1 year unless the seller is extending it another year on their own. Some places do that. Here is how they probably get that. Lets say you heater has a problem at the 18 month mark, they go out and repair it under "warranty." When they submit the warranty paperwork to Raypak, the use a serial number/info on a newer unit they installed that is still under warranty. This is a know trick in the business and Raypak is well aware of it but they can't prove anything so they just deal with it.

With regards to the PROTEK SHIELD, it's a gimmick in my opinion. Your biggest enemy to a pool heater is not maintaining your pool chemistry right. If you read the fine print on the unit I am sure you will find that if you have a failure of the heat exchanger and the pool chemistry is found to be not correct, water being acidic, it is not covered under the warranty.