We're totally baffled, this heater was spotless inside a week ago, took of the hood, vacuumed the leaves out, vacuumed around the burner tray, heater worked fine (only 2 years old to boot). Today I see a message, no pilot sensed so I open up the front and inside looks like a bunch of cobwebs and just strange stuff. Maybe some part of the heater caught fire and melted? The display still comes on, the wires don't seem melted but the inside is covered with this mess. Hoping someone with experience has perhaps seen this before and can shed some insight. We'll be taking it all apart soon, maybe that'll reveal the cause.
Raypak heater mystery for the experts, this is beyond bizarre
- Thread starter robwas
- Start date
- Jul 21, 2013
- 65,486
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
@1poolman1 @wireform @Lake Placid any guess as to what type of insects made this heater home for a while?
Don't know anything about East-coast spiders, but what is that on the bottom of the heater. Looks like something was left in the heater and melted/burned when it was next fired. That would account for all the ash on the webs.
So mystery solved, my friend mothballed the heater and forgot he'd left a bag of them under the burner. It was a mess but took it apart, cleaned it all up and the heater is working.
- May 23, 2015
- 25,721
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Cool .. well, from a science project standpoint at least. Naphtha, the main component of mothballs, has a low vaporization temperature. So when the heater fired and burned the bag of mothballs, the naphtha quickly vaporized and then deposited itself on cooler areas. That’s the webbing you see.
It’s actually lucky how it turned out. Mothballs emit vapors that are highly combustible. This is why mothballs aren’t sold in a lot of areas and places that still allow them require package warnings. In a confined space like a garage where a gas water heater could be present, mothballs can actually create a combustible vapor pressure with air. Then the gas heater fires up and next thing you know you have a raging house fire.
I hope your friend bought you a beer for all the hard cleanup work he caused you!!
It’s actually lucky how it turned out. Mothballs emit vapors that are highly combustible. This is why mothballs aren’t sold in a lot of areas and places that still allow them require package warnings. In a confined space like a garage where a gas water heater could be present, mothballs can actually create a combustible vapor pressure with air. Then the gas heater fires up and next thing you know you have a raging house fire.
I hope your friend bought you a beer for all the hard cleanup work he caused you!!