Pentair Heater / Gas Smell

[bbdude]

Hi All - Hope you're well and always get great input from this community. Our new pool opened in early August and since then we haven't had a gas meter reading. I went out today to get a reading and called it into the gas company and they had a reaction that the reading was really high. They asked if I could smell gas outside and I confirmed there is a faint smell of gas near the meter. I previously smelled it but thought nothing of it because I know meters can burp small amounts here and there to regulate the pressure. Gas company felt the smell should not be pronounced like this so they sent someone out this morning and confirmed a small leak. Leak is pretty minor and was quickly remediated. Leak was before the meter so didn't cause the higher than usual reading.

The above being said, it makes me question our pool heater / gas smell. During the cooler days of late August we could smell a faint smell of gas when the heater was on. I chalked this up to being normal and we were just smelling the heater venting. Is this normal or should there be no smell from the heater at all?

 

[JamesW]

Do you only smell it when the heater is on?

There should not be any unburned gas when the heater is on.

Maybe do a leak test with the soap or a sniffer.

 

[bbdude]

Yes, I only smell it when the heater is on so I suspect this is normal? When it’s off there’s no smell.

 

[JamesW]

Is the smell natural gas or exhaust?

You should not smell any natural gas at any time other than maybe a brief second during startup.

If you look at the gas meter, is it moving when all gas appliances are off?

How many hours has the heater run?

The heater should use 400 cubic feet per hour.

So, multiply hours of runtime by 400 to get cubic feet of gas used.

https://www.pentair.com/content/dam/extranet/nam/pentair-pool/residential/heaters/mastertemp/manual/Manual-MasterTemp-472592-English.pdf

 

[JamesW]

The gas valve output is actually a negative pressure (vacuum) due to the way that the gas gets sucked into the suction port of the fan, so you really can’t get a gas leak at the gas valve output when the heater is on.

You can do a test with the test soap or a sniffer if you smell gas when the heater is off.

What other appliances use gas?

How much has the heater been used?

Are you sure that you read the meter correctly?

 

[bbdude]

The pool is closed so can't check the heater use, but checked the gas gauge and it's not turning when everything is off. That's good.

No smell right now by the heater and the gas pipe is shutoff since we're closed for winter.

I did verify with the gas tech that I did read the meter correctly. We're in Buffalo so I'm sure we used it 60+ hours so bracing for the bill!

 

[1poolman1]

The pool is closed so can't check the heater use, but checked the gas gauge and it's not turning when everything is off. That's good.

No smell right now by the heater and the gas pipe is shutoff since we're closed for winter.

I did verify with the gas tech that I did read the meter correctly. We're in Buffalo so I'm sure we used it 60+ hours so bracing for the bill!

There is virtually always a small amount of un-burned gas that will be smelled when a Master Temp or Max-E-Therm first light. It is very tiny. It happens with even more brands as they change the design to having metered gas/air injected into the burner area as opposed to the older design (like mine) where the fan pulled the exhaust out. The odorant put in gas is incredibly strong and easily noticed. The air/gas mixture is forced into the combustion chamber and some will get past the igniter and out the exhaust. Just did a RayPak 407A last week, first one I've seen in this area, and experienced the same thing, slight gas odor at start-up, then just stinky exhaust.