Repair or replace heater

[Mlccdavis]

I have a 10+ year old Hayward H400FDN heater that is showing a CE error code. I had it looked by a local pool company and they tested the comm cable and the heater still showed the error so the board(s) are most likely bad. Since the heater is 10+ years old and it had mice living in it at some point, should I look into replacing the boards and hoping nothing else was damaged by the mice or just replace the heater and get a warrenty?

What is the typical life span on a heater?

 

[JamesW]

How much for the boards?

What is the heater serial number or manufacturing date?

Pictures of the heater and the heater label from inside the heater?

 

[Mlccdavis]

The heater is over 10 years old, I don't have the serial numbers right now. It is a Hayward H-Series natural gas heater.

To replace the board and bezel is about $800. Then I'm not sure if anything was damaged by mice living in it.

 

[JamesW]

I would not put $800.00 into a 10+ year old heater.

"10+" might be 10 years or 15 or 20 years, so I have to assume closer to 20 years in the absence of better information.

 

[ajw22]

Hayward H-Series Heaters - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

CE code on the display indicate a display failure. Water gets in around the display and causes the keypad to be non-responsive. The thread Design Flaw in Hayward Pool Heaters Causing CE Error Codes goes deeper into the problem and its causes. The fix is an expensive replacement of the display boards.

 

[HeyEng]

I had this dreaded malfunction a little over a year ago on the same heater. It was about $700 to repair and we went ahead and pulled the trigger since a replacement heater would have been in the $5,000 range. It is still working well (fingers crossed) after the repair and is now approaching 15 years old.

 

[JamesW]

It was about $700 to repair and we went ahead and pulled the trigger since a replacement heater would have been in the $5,000 range.

If the repair didn't work, would you still be liable for the bill or would you feel like you shouldn't pay because the fix didn't work?

If the repair doesn't work, then you have to either eat the cost and still buy a new heater or double down and spend more money on new parts.

Maybe you spend another $700.00 on new parts based on another guess about what might be wrong and now you're out $1,400.00 for a heater that might or might not work or might only work for a month or two.

Maybe you decide to just buy a new heater and now someone has to eat that $1,400.00 loss.

For a service person, it's not worth the risk because the customer won't want to pay if the fix doesn't work, so they are expected to eat the cost.

The customer can argue that the diagnosis was bad and therefore the customer shouldn't have to pay.

 

[JamesW]

I had it looked by a local pool company and they tested the comm cable and the heater still showed the error so the board(s) are most likely bad.

This clearly indicates that the service is not sure what the problem is.

Even if you paid me upfront with the clear understanding that the heater might not work, I would not do the fix.

For a service person, it's a losing bet to try to fix a 15 or 20 year old heater unless the cost is low and you can be sure that the heater will be safe and reliable for at least 2 years, which is impossible with a heater that old.

Unless you have an actual date of manufacture, you have to assume at least 15 to 20 years old.

Show some pictures of the actual heater and the heater label.

You're asking us to give advice on an uncertain condition and an uncertain age.

For all we know, the heater might be totally rusted out and 30 years old.

 

[Newdude]

🙋‍♂️

I'm on team '$700 is alot of money for something that could die of natural causes 3 days later, if its not already too late.'

I promise you that I do not like dropping $5k anymore than anyone else would. Matter of fact I can attest that I like it even less than they do. But penny wise and pound foolish and whatnot.

 

[HeyEng]

If the repair didn't work, would you still be liable for the bill or would you feel like you shouldn't pay because the fix didn't work?

If the repair doesn't work, then you have to either eat the cost and still buy a new heater or double down and spend more money on new parts.

Maybe you spend another $700.00 on new parts based on another guess about what might be wrong and now you're out $1,400.00 for a heater that might or might not work or might only work for a month or two.

Maybe you decide to just buy a new heater and now someone has to eat that $1,400.00 loss.

For a service person, it's not worth the risk because the customer won't want to pay if the fix doesn't work, so they are expected to eat the cost.

The customer can argue that the diagnosis was bad and therefore the customer shouldn't have to pay.

Of course I would have paid for it since that was the risk I was willing to take...perhaps I was lucky. Others may not have made the choice I made.

An additional variable was there was a shortage of heaters and the one I would have replaced it with had a 6 month lead time. *IF* the heater I wanted was available, I would probably had it replaced instead of repaired.

 

[Newdude]

perhaps I was lucky. Others may not have made the choice I made.

It can only be made by the person deciding. I understand their choice either way because circumstances dictate 98% of the decision.