I have a STA-Rite Max-E-Therm 200 SR200NA that was newly installed in July 2021. The LED screen says the Pool temp at the top then says ERR AGS. From reading the book, I'm a bit confused as to this being something that needs to be fixed or not. It says one of the elements exceeded 140 degrees and that triggered the message. The fix is to turn it off then turn it back on. Since they have a 2 year warranty, I wanted to see if i'm reading this right and should just do the reset each time or if something needs to be replaced.
STA-Rite Normal Function or Repair Required
- Thread starter Aspfam
- Start date
It sounds like it triggers this after it runs a period of time. I would increase rpms on the heater function and clean filter. Make sure no external bypass is open. If that doesn’t fix the problem you can call with installation date and serial number and put in a claim or register the unit online and make a claim.
Start a warranty claim as soon as you can. The season has started and repair and service centers are going to get backed up very quickly.
Ended up being a warranty repair on a known issue. Hopefully this new part does the trick.
The known issue is related to variable speed pumps and the impact on the heater when the programmed speed changes throughout the day. Primarily going from a faster speed to a slower speed.
UPDATE - Warranty fix didn't work. Issue still exists. Seems to happen when the heater is actually heating at the time the program on my variable speed pump slows the speed down. When the pump speed starts back up again later in the program, the heater stays in Error Mode ERR AGS and won't start to heat again until I do a hard reset(unplug) of the heater. Repairman that did the warranty work is talking to Pentair but I have yet to hear of a fix. Repairman also said he's been seeing this a lot with VS pumps. An obvious fix would be to run the pump at a higher speed the entire program but that defeats the whole purpose of having a VS pump.
UPDATE - Warranty fix didn't work. Issue still exists. Seems to happen when the heater is actually heating at the time the program on my variable speed pump slows the speed down. When the pump speed starts back up again later in the program, the heater stays in Error Mode ERR AGS and won't start to heat again until I do a hard reset(unplug) of the heater. Repairman that did the warranty work is talking to Pentair but I have yet to hear of a fix. Repairman also said he's been seeing this a lot with VS pumps. An obvious fix would be to run the pump at a higher speed the entire program but that defeats the whole purpose of having a VS pump.
The maxetherm 200 requires 20gpm minimum to operate Safely. If you had automation it would increase speed when there is demand for heat. Since yours is stand-alone you don’t want your lowest speed to go under the 20gpm. It looks like you don’t have any other features just the swg. I would program 1 speed during the time you are heating the pool that is slightly above 20gpm.
You HAVE to run the pump at a higher/normal speed when you are using the heater. You can run the pump on a slower speed when not using the heater. This is a normal routine operation when a heater is involved.
I always tell my customers that you must run between 2800-3000 RPMs when you are using the heater. Anything lower and your ruin the heater. I ran into lots of this when the variable speed pumps become the norm in the market.
So if you run the pump at a higher speed when you use the heater, does it run and stay running? If so, that is your answer.