Raypak 266k BTU Heater - Repair or Replace?

[TRog]

Hey all,

I'm looking for some advice (I'll have multiple questions here). I currently have a Raypak 266k BTU Heater, Model Number: P-R266A-EN-C (S/N: 170434606). This year, when opening up my pool, I had some issue with the heater starting up. I got it to start, but the flame kept going out. I called a company to come out to take a look, and they want to replace the ignition system. I agreed to this service, however, once they came out, and went to install this new part, they took out the current burner tray assemble, and it appears to be completely rusted out / unsafe (to which I agree):



The crew that came out said that based on how it has corroded it's likely the heater exchange at one point had a serious leak, but he said he sees no signs of that leak right now. This company said they would quote me for a repair, but instead quoted me for a new unit. Without getting into the details, the quote was, in my opinion, ridiculously too high. So this leads me to my questions, and please note, I live in Canada, so all prices will be in CAD.

1 -> Looking at this picture, would it be worth it to replace the burner assembly? Based on me looking online for parts / prices, it may cost over $1000 in parts, plus labour to fix. (It would be a new burner tray assembly, plus ignition, plus potentially other components).
2 -> If I do need a new unit, I can probably get one shipped for around $3000. I feel if I get the EXACT same unit, I can probably install it myself. All electrical, plumbing, and gas piping is already installed and connected, so I figure all I would need to do is swap them. The plumbing looks like it just unscrews from the heaters connections, same with the electrical. Inside of the unit, I see the gas is connected via a union, so I would just need to unscrew that one piece and reconnected it in the new unit. Once installed, and before I turn it on, I would have to get a licensed gas inspector to came take a look at the install / piping to ensure it's safe (I don't want to risk it).
3 -> If it is not advised to attempt the install myself, and I should get a professional company out to do the install, would it be recommended to stay with the 266k BTU unit, or should I opt to get a higher BTU unit (400k BTU for example)? My pool is about 75k litres which is about 16.5k gallons (I can give more pool details if required).

Thanks everyone for your opinions!

 

[ajw22]

Show us what the insides of the heater look like. We can’t judge if you should throw money into the heater without seeing its condition.

How old is the heater?

Chances are you should get a new heater and start fresh,

Only you can judge if you can do a heater install. Review the Installation Manual tasks and see if is within your ability.

If you want a greater BTU heater you need to confirm your gas meter and pipe can handle it.

@swamprat69 may have thoughts.

 

[swamprat69]

Excessive rusting in the area of the burners and combustion chamber is generally caused by impairment of the flow of combustion byproducts. In a clean and properly operating heater the air/gas mixture is introduced into the burners and ignited above the burner outlets. The combustion byproducts (normally heat, water vapor and carbon dioxide) then flow through the heat exchanger and out through the venting. If there is a restriction to this flow (spider webs in the manifold orifices or burners, dirty burner outlets) or sooting of the heat exchanger caused by the aforementioned or restriction of the venting caused by blockage or adverse winds in naturally vented heaters or inadequate venting of a blower assisted vent caused by dirty blower wheel vanes, weak capacitor or failing motor bearings, the byproducts of combustion (HEAT, WATER VAPOR and carbon dioxide) will back up into the combustion chamber and cause rusting and incomplete combustion which will further soot up the heater (it's like a snowball effect). During my 40 yrs. + as an HVAC technician I have found that about 50% of system problems have been caused by dirt somewhere in the system and lack of regular cleaning/maintenance.

 

[TRog]

Hey @ajw22 and @swamprat69 for your replies!

@ajw22:
I'm not 100% sure of the heaters age, but looking at the serial number, I'm assuming it's from 04-2017. So maybe around 8 years old. Again, I'm not 100% sure as this is only my 5th season with the pool. Without doing a complete disassemble, here are some pictures of the heater that I took, hopefully it helps paint a better picture.

In terms of your comment about installing a new heater. I figure if it's just a matter of undoing the inlet / outlet of the water, unhooking the electrical, and unscrewing the gas piping. Then putting the new unit in place, exactly where this one is, and re-screwing those items back in. I can 100% do that. However, if there is new plumbing to be done, or internal wiring to do be, etc. I probably will not attempt it. So I'm trying to gauge what is involved. I will definitely take a look at the installation manually and review the steps.

@swamprat69:
I think your assessment of what happened is 100% accurate, and to be honest it's 100% my fault. My maintenance on the heater was subpar, as I didn't realize until all of this happened that I needed professionals to come out and clean the internal components (dumb move / expensive lesson).

Thank you both for your help.