Raypak 407A heater stuck on SPK

[maxBR]

My heater quit mid day a couple weeks ago running the spa. The burners won't light up and the display stays on SPK. There's a click when it tries to light up and another when i give up and set it to the off mode again. So I believe I need to replace the igniter. But on the parts pages for my heater searching "igniter" doesn't come up. There's some pilot parts but I'm not sure what exactly I need.

Can I get a sanity check on what I think the issue is and also if anyone can point me to the parts to try first that would help.

It's a raypak 407A. See photos

 

[swamprat69]

Corrosion on both the burners and the combustion chamber faceplate above the burners are indicative of spillage of the byproducts of combustion out of the front of the combustion chamber ( this is not supposed to happen during normal operation ). I would hazard a guess that the heater has not been cleaned and checked for a while. This should be the manual for your heater https://s3.amazonaws.com/AWSProd/sites/raypakcom/documents/241793.pdf . According to the manual "spark" denotes that the pilot is trying to light and at this time you should hear a repeditive ticking sound as the pilot attempts to light. If the pilot does not light within 90 seconds this is supposed to change from "spark" to an actual fault code display. At the minimum you should have the heater cleaned and checked as you probably have a dirty spark electrode, pilot assembly, burners, ground connections and may have a partial obstruction of the heat exchanger.

 

[ajw22]

Look at the pilot assembly…

 

[maxBR]

Thank you for pointing out heater maintenance! It makes total sense, but before now it had just never crossed my mind that I should be performing some maintenance on it. I have owned the pool about 2.5 years now and I'm a first timer. I ordered the pilot assembly, will start by replacing that. Hopefully that gets it to light and then I will move on to other inspections and checks that I learned from my Youtube dive into heater cleaning and maintenance over the weekend.

 

[1poolman1]

Thank you for pointing out heater maintenance! It makes total sense, but before now it had just never crossed my mind that I should be performing some maintenance on it. I have owned the pool about 2.5 years now and I'm a first timer. I ordered the pilot assembly, will start by replacing that. Hopefully that gets it to light and then I will move on to other inspections and checks that I learned from my Youtube dive into heater cleaning and maintenance over the weekend.

The pilot assembly is also the flame sensor. As corroded as that is now, plus the corrosion at the green wire, don't allow for the flame of the lit pilot to be sensed by the electronics so it just keeps "sparking." Be sure to clean the area of the green wire connection when replacing the pilot burner.

 

[maxBR]

Got my new igniter installed but still not firing up. I verified the spark running the igniter without gas before installing it. I assume if the pilot is lighting it would be obvious to see through the spy hole, right? I don't think the pilot is lighting.

I also know there is gas getting to the pilot tube because there is a small leak at the fitting where it plugs into the gas controller. It can be seen with some soapy water. It's a very small leak so I don't think it would prevent the pilot lighting but maybe?

Not really sure on next steps now