JeremyJL

I recently had a new heater installed due to the old one rusting out and would not fire. I went from a jandy LT 400k btu to a sta-rite max e-therm 400k btu. The heater works as it is supposed to, but things run a little different now. Prior to switching heaters, with a freshly cleaned filter my pressures for high speed, low speed, and spa mode were 17,4,28 respectively. The spa is a raised and an attached spa that pours over into the pool at all times during normal filtering. Before, as expected, when running in low speed the amount of water spilling over was reduced, but it still had a decent amount of water flowing over. Now with the new sta-rite heater (and a freshly cleaned filter) my high speed,low speed and spa mode pressures are 20,8,30 psi. Plus when I run the pool in low speed I get almost no flow over the spill over. My concern is with the low speed pressure as I try to run it in low speed all the time except when using the spa. It just doesn't seem right to me to see my low speed pressure double and a dramatic loss in flow. I assume that the new sta-rite heater is just that much more restrictive causing this. I know that the heater has an internal by pass, but from what I can tell from the manual and looking on line that this is not adjustable and is controlled by a internal spring. Also when in high speed I can hear water rushing through the heater manifold. Kind of hard to explain but it's a higher pitched noise that stands out and it's louder than the pool pump. From what I can tell I don't think there is anything wrong, but I'm kinda hoping I overlooked something that might be causing these issues ( mainly concerned with the doubling of the low speed pressure) . I'm assuming that this will be the way it runs now as I realize not all equipment is made equal and when changing from one heater to another I can't expect everything to be the same. Just hoping someone on here has some insight to confirm my thoughts or has an idea of what is causing this. Thanks.

Thanks Pool Clown! The valves are working correctly now.

I recently had to partially drain my spa to do some work, and noticed a problem with my valve actuators. They are JVA 2444, and hooked up to an aqualink RS system. There are 4 settings for the valve actuators: Pool Mode, Spa Mode, Spa Drain, and Spa Fill. Below is the current valve positions with each setting. Pool Mode: Intake: Pool drains/skimmers Return: 70% pool and 30% Spa (for spillover effect) Spa Mode: Intake: Spa Drains Return: Spa Jets Spa Fill: Intake: Spa Drains Return: Pool Spa Drain: Intake: Pool drains/skimmers Return: 70% pool and 30% Spa (for spillover effect) As you can see, the pool mode and spa mode are correct, but the spa fill/drain are backwards. I flipped the toggle switch on the bottom of both of the actuators and the it corrected the spa fill/drain positions, but then switched the order for the Pool/Spa Mode. I read through the manual and tried to trouble shoot it myself, but came up with no solution. Any suggestions/Solutions? Thanks

Thanks for the tips Scott, i will check it out in the next few days. It seems weird to me that within a 5 minute period i get 2 different errors that have never showed before, i was maybe thinking that there was a problem with a board or whatever all the sensors/switches plug into.

another update.... I messed with it again today. With the heater set to 'Spa' mode i used the PDA and turned on the heater, set it to 104 deg and left it to heat up. It reached 98 deg and shut off. This time i get an error light on the heater. It was the HIGH LIMIT error. Next, i put the heater in 'Pool"mode to see if it worked like yesterday. It turned on for a minute and shut off and the service light came on. This time it was AIR FLOW error. I toggled the heater off, and then switched it back to 'Spa' mode, it fired up and shut down a minute later, it gave me AIR FLOW error. So in the past week of heating up the spa, the heater has shut off prematurely and has given me either: 1.)no error 2.) air flow error or 3.)high limit error. Any new ideas??

Ya, both are maxed out.

Update... I received the new temp sensor today and installed it. I turned the heater on and set it to 90 deg. It heated up to 80 deg and turned off. So the temp sensor is not the problem. I did get it to heat like it should, but i had to toggle the heater to 'POOL' mode on the heater while heating the spa, it heated it up like it should. When turning on the heater, i do everything through the PDA, and never touch the heater. If i am heating the spa, or the pool the heater is always set to spa mode. I guess this is normal for when you use the PDA for heater operation. So any ideas of what needs to be fixed? It heats the pool or spa fine when on 'POOL' mode on the heater, but when set to 'SPA' mode it cuts off prematurely. Is it okay to keep the heater in 'POOL' mode and use it as it seems to be fine? Thanks, Jeremy

I pulled out the sensor today, the plastic sleeve around the sensor was cracked. Other than that it looked fine. I ordered a new one today and will install it next week when it arrives.

Hey everyone, A little background on my setup: 18,000 gallon IG gunite pool/spa Jandy LT-400N-L heater Aqualink with RS6 PDA So last night i decided to use the spa, I set the temp to 100 Deg on the PDA and the sap began to heat. The heater then cut of at 96 deg. I shut all the equipment down and even flipped the breakers, then turned it all back on and the heater would not relight, or even try to. I cut everything off and left it for the night. This morning i turned the spa/heater back on and set the temp to 100 deg. The heater began to heat normally and cut off at 93 deg, and would not turn back on. I left the pool to run in its regular cycle and later in the day tried it again to see what would happen. This time I set the heater temp to 90 deg and left it to heat up the spa. It cut off at 87 deg, and would not light again, or try to. During all of this no error lights come on. So off the the forums i went to find a soulution. I came across this thread that is similar to my problem:similar problem I suspect i have a bad temperature sensor. Here is a chart that Pool Clown posted in the other thread that i used to compare my reading with. Thermistor chart I disconected the sensor and attached a 10K ohm resistor in place of the sensor. I powerd the heater up and set it to 104 Deg on the PDA and recorded these values Temp -- resistance (K ohms) 69 ------- 12.41 70 ------- 12.23 88 ------- 7.83 91 ------- 7.28 92 ------- 7.03 95 ------- 6.56 98 ------- 6.14 100 ------- 5.83 102 ------- 5.57 104 ------- 5.28 The heater heated all the way to 104 degrees without a problem and then set the temp on the PDA to 76 deg (The 10k resistor simulated a temp of 77 deg) and the heater shut off, like it should. I am confused as my values seem to fall within spec for the temp sensor, but the heater constantly fails to heat correctly. I plan on ordering a new one and install it, but want to see if anyone has any other ideas ideas before i buy one. Also any recomendations for a good online retailer to purchase a new temp sensor ? Thanks Jeremy

Pool Clown thanks for your input, During all of this there was no smell other than that of natural gas from before the unit fired up, no smell of metal or plastic burning. The air temp was probably around mid 50's, and the pool temp is at 62 right now. When this first happened last night the temperature through the hot tube/heater had been upper 90's for about two hours. I dont think it is steam, i have never seen any visible exhaust come out of the vent until now, and it happens every time the heater turns on. This morning/afternoon when i ran it again, with the same results as last night the temp was in the 70's, so i do not the ambient temperature is playing a roll in this. Is it normal to smell some gas as the heater is in the process of firing? I have never noticed it before, but usually am never around it when its running/turning on. Anybody familiar with these heaters, is it normal for the fan to cycle high-low-high while in the process of firing? Thanks, Jeremy

Hey everyone, So last night I was using the spa and everything was running as normal for about two hours and then the heater did something I have never seen before. I noticed smoke coming out of the exhaust vent, since it was dark out and late, and I did not feel like messing with it I shut the heater down and left it alone. I woke up this morning and fired the heater up again and this is what happened. First thing it did was the exhaust vent ramped up to high and stayed on for about 30 seconds. Next the fan cycled to low, and this is when I could smell natural gas around the heater, I assume that it was exiting through the exhaust vent. After another 30 seconds or so of the vent on low, I then can hear the heater light, and make the normal whistling sound when you first fire up a heater. The exhaust vent then ramped up to high again and this is when i noticed smoke coming of the vent. The smoke only lasted for 20-30 seconds and then stopped, and i could no longer smell any natural gas, and the heater worked as normal and heated the spa. I cycled the heater on and off 3 times and the above events occurred every time. Any one have any ideas of what is going on, or how to fix it? Thanks, Jeremy i meant to put this in the in-ground pool section.

Never mind. i feel like an idiot. in the main control panel it says "remove these screws to access chlorine generator panel" of all the times i have opened the door i have never noticed that writing. oh well.

Today I woke up to my Jandy PDA telling me "Check Aquapure", "General Fault". I first took of the cell and inspected and all was fine. I googled what is should do and found out that to do any kind of troubleshooting i need the 3 digit error code. My system consists of the Aqua link RS power center, and the Jandy PDA. I do not have a separate box that controls the SWCG, everything is done through the PDA. I have gone through all the menus in the PDA to see if a code can be obtained but could not find anything. Is there something i am missing? How do i obtain the error code? Thanks, Jeremy