Raypak RP 2100 heater problem

[Stephane]

Greetings, I have a now 15 year old gas pool heater that is giving me problems.

First, I had the hardest time getting the pilot to light-up.

So I cleaned everything up and now it lights-up and the flame is nice and blue.

I have tested the thermopile that sits by the pilot and it is working fine.

I have tested the the high temp switch by bypassing it and it is fine.

I have cleaned the exhaust which was full of dry leaves and spider web (actually thought I had found the culprit).

So, the pilot is on and everything ready to go. The thermostat is set at the highest setting.

Problem is: The second, the heater switch is flipped ON, I hear a click that seems to be coming from the valve, and everything shuts down, even the pilot light.

Additional info:

1- Yesterday, before cleaning and testing everything, I managed to start the heater. It lasted for 2 minutes then shut-off, even the pilot light.

2- I restarted the pilot light and managed to get the heater going for 2 hours. Came back to it and everything had shut down again, even the pilot light.

3- the whole heater part was taken off and was stored inside to avoid bugs and spiders to block the tubes (has happened before and fire caught in front of unit, triggering the high temp switch. I blew air pressure in the tubes prior to install anyway.

Thank you.

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[Stephane]

I guess all in all, with everything described above, my biggest enigma is...

Considering that I can fire up the pilot and make it work like a champ, What is responsible for turning everything off, even the pilot light, when I flip-up the switch to start the heater.

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[ps0303]

Sounds like you have something shorting out the gas valve and thus the pilot is shutting off. Have you checked the wiring for any rodent damage?

 

[Stephane]

I believe to have found the problem.

Remains to be confirmed today, but it seems that it was the roll-out flame sensor whose connections were not tight enough.

I found them to be on the loose side, so I used pliers to thighten the female connectors, plugged everything back in and the heater fired right up.....

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[skimmerswimmer]

The millivolt Rayak models can be a bit finnicky. In my case, I had a bad thermostat which is now currently jumpered since I don't really set a temperature anyway. I turn the heater on when I need it and turn it off when it reaches temp. I have had similar issues as you describe and the main thing to remember about the circuit is that everything is in series, so you can follow the wires out of the gas valve and TEMPORARILY bypass each switch one at a time to figure out which one is causing the issue. Also, if there is too much resistance in the line (i.e. bad connections, damaged wiring, etc). it could impact the ability to hold the gas valve open.