Pentair Sta Rite heater issue

[socal_pooluser]

I have an older Sta Rite heater.. has worked great the last 7 years. Now, when I turn on the heater, it turns on, shows the current water temp on the LED, the blower comes on but it does not light. It continues for about 30 seconds and then shuts itself off. I thought it might be the igniter so I replaced it but it did not change anything. I also took the opportunity to clean it via compressed air.. no mice nests or anything, just lots of dust. As far as I can tell, it's not throwing any error codes; nothing on the LED display and no lights underneath the LED cap. I've read that if the gas pressure isn't high enough it won't fire- but nothing has changed there. All help appreciated.

 

[Alexr54]

Is it LP model? Have you checked the regulator on the gas line? Sounds like a fuel issue to me. I have the same heater and for me it’s been really reliable. Had to change the igniter once but besides that it’s been great.

 

[swamprat69]

Have you checked to see if the air flow switch (AFS) is closing. If it is not closing, you will get no power to the ignitor.

 

[socal_pooluser]

Is it LP model? Have you checked the regulator on the gas line? Sounds like a fuel issue to me. I have the same heater and for me it’s been really reliable. Had to change the igniter once but besides that it’s been great.

Thank you for your reply! I think so too.. am going to call the gas co. to see if I can get them to check the pressure. Stay tuned.

 

[socal_pooluser]

Have you checked to see if the air flow switch (AFS) is closing. If it is not closing, you will get no power to the ignitor.

Thanks for your reply - I have not checked the AFS / candidly not sure how but I can read up / but am thinking that before I do a bunch of testing, perhaps I'll see if I can get the gas co. to check the line pressure first... work outside in?

 

[swamprat69]

If you have a multimeter put the 2 leads across the AFS contacts on start up with the meter set to AC volts. If you read a voltage the contacts have not closed and if you read 0 volts the contacts have closed. If you don't have a multimeter, you can remove the 2 wires fron the AFS and hold them together in good contact and if the heaters fires up you know that the AFS contacts were not closing.

 

[socal_pooluser]

Quick update - Gas company won't come out to check the pressure due to Covid concerns.. and they can't monitor pressure with their "smart" meter.

 

[socal_pooluser]

If you have a multimeter put the 2 leads across the AFS contacts on start up with the meter set to AC volts. If you read a voltage the contacts have not closed and if you read 0 volts the contacts have closed. If you don't have a multimeter, you can remove the 2 wires fron the AFS and hold them together in good contact and if the heaters fires up you know that the AFS contacts were not closing.

More information:
(1) my heater is the 400K BTU/HR SR400NA.
(2) I figured I'd test the AFS while waiting to see when the gas company will be able to come out-- so as suggested, I connected the 2 wires and it still didn't start and no clicking of the igniter.
(3) The blower seems to have great pressure.. while I've never tested it before it sucked my hand hard about 3-4 inches away from the opening
(4) All (gas/air) hoses look in good order, not chewed

Questions:
(1) What is the error code that the system would display if the natural gas pressure was too low?
(2) There is a connector with 2 wires coming out of it that is designed to pivot. Is this the "toggle-style valve"? In the operational manual it talks about this valve as controlling gas flow but I thought that was the "on / off" gas dial. I moved it back and forth during the lighting procedure to see if it would have any effect, but it didn't so I put it back (to the best of my ability) to it's original position.

All comments appreciated.