Rust mitigation in old Raypack pool heater on above ground pool

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TimmyD7

Member
Oct 3, 2023
7
Golden Colorado
Good evening and thanks in advance for any advice! This has been my first season with a 'real' above ground pool, I have an Intex XTR 18' x 52" that we have really been enjoying. When I stepped up from the 10' x 30", wifey said I needed to be able to heat it. I picked up an old Raypack NG heater super cheap and got it running, it works great and I get about 1-2 degrees of heating per hour which I am pleased with. The problem is that the heater manifold is RUUUSSTTYY! I have the heater on a bypass so that I don't have to run through it, and if I want to heat the pool, I just disconnect my return line, and let the pump run for 30 seconds wasting the brown water that was in the heater before reattaching and heating the pool. It is an extra step, but the pool has been nice and clear, no visible rust stains anywhere. All good for this season. However, I will be breaking this set up down for the winter in a month or so, and am wondering if there is any recommended treatment for the heater for winter storage (it will be moved indoors), and any recommendations for next season so that I don't have to do my flush step. If not, I will probably add another 3 way so I can waste the dirty water without undoing a hose, and simplify a little. I am on a budget, so a new heater isn't realistic. Are there any swim-safe rust inhibitors that are worth adding? I do understand chloroine is a natureal oxidizer, and have had pretty good luck keeping my chlorine levels low, though my alkalinity and ph are also generally on the low side. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, and enjoy the water!
Thanks,
Tim
 
Welcome to TFP.

Rusting is a chemical reaction. To stop rusting you need to neutralize the chemical reaction using a rust neutralizer.

Your water chemistry is not helping the life of your gas heater although it probably will not make a difference at this point. Your low pH is doing the damage and not any chlorine level. In addition if you have a gas heater you need at least 250ppm of calcium in the water so that the calcium will form a protective coating on the heat exchanger. Low pH strips off that protective coating.
 
TimmyD7 said:
Good evening and thanks in advance for any advice! This has been my first season with a 'real' above ground pool, I have an Intex XTR 18' x 52" that we have really been enjoying. When I stepped up from the 10' x 30", wifey said I needed to be able to heat it. I picked up an old Raypack NG heater super cheap and got it running, it works great and I get about 1-2 degrees of heating per hour which I am pleased with. The problem is that the heater manifold is RUUUSSTTYY! I have the heater on a bypass so that I don't have to run through it, and if I want to heat the pool, I just disconnect my return line, and let the pump run for 30 seconds wasting the brown water that was in the heater before reattaching and heating the pool. It is an extra step, but the pool has been nice and clear, no visible rust stains anywhere. All good for this season. However, I will be breaking this set up down for the winter in a month or so, and am wondering if there is any recommended treatment for the heater for winter storage (it will be moved indoors), and any recommendations for next season so that I don't have to do my flush step. If not, I will probably add another 3 way so I can waste the dirty water without undoing a hose, and simplify a little. I am on a budget, so a new heater isn't realistic. Are there any swim-safe rust inhibitors that are worth adding? I do understand chloroine is a natureal oxidizer, and have had pretty good luck keeping my chlorine levels low, though my alkalinity and ph are also generally on the low side. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, and enjoy the water!
Thanks,
Tim
Click to expand...
You have a heater with cast-iron headers if it is rusting. They were glass-lined from the factory, but the glass always eventually cracked and allowed the header to rust. That must be a very old heater. There is no real fix and even the headers are not likely available if you wanted to replace them.
 
ajw22 said:
Welcome to TFP.

Rusting is a chemical reaction. To stop rusting you need to neutralize the chemical reaction using a rust neutralizer.

Your water chemistry is not helping the life of your gas heater although it probably will not make a difference at this point. Your low pH is doing the damage and not any chlorine level. In addition if you have a gas heater you need at least 250ppm of calcium in the water so that the calcium will form a protective coating on the heat exchanger. Low pH strips off that protective coating.
Click to expand...
Thank you ajw, I will get my pool chemistry more in line. What do you add for calcium? I don't believe it is a measured quantity on my test strips.
Take care!
Tim
 
1poolman1 said:
You have a heater with cast-iron headers if it is rusting. They were glass-lined from the factory, but the glass always eventually cracked and allowed the header to rust. That must be a very old heater. There is no real fix and even the headers are not likely available if you wanted to replace them.
Click to expand...
Thank you pool man, yes, it seems I do have a cast iron header, and am not suprised that the glass is gone. do you think there is any epoxy type coating I could attempt to apply this winter that may help come next summer? Alternatively I just need to add another 3 way to waste the water stored in the heater before returning it to the pool, that is working quite well this year. I imagine I could also slow it down by improving my pool's chemistry as was also suggested. I do plan to replace it at some point, but am cheap, and currently have less into the whole set up (pool/filter/heater) than a nice USED heater would be. Thank you for the feed back and enjoy your pool!
Tim
 
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