Master temp heater - HLS replaced - prevent rusting in the future

[tfpflana1502]

I have a SW pool and evidently the saltiness of the water rusted out the contacts for the HLS on my Max E Therm SR400NA heater. I replaced the HLS, added new sliding L shaped connectors, etc....

My question is how to avoid the rusting in the future? Perhaps I need to cover it with a rubber boot or something that doesn't conduct electricity, just to keep water from splashing on it when I have to change the filter, etc... that allows a lot of water in the area to splash around and undoubtedly get to those parts which are exposed. Below is a picture of the old one for context.

My heater is the round bodied one versus the box shape. The box shaped ones appear to better protect the components below.

Thanks for any thoughts.
Pat

 

[JamesW]

That is really bad.

There is something causing excessive corrosion.

Can you show the whole system?

 

[tfpflana1502]

Here are some more photos. This unit was rusty like this when we bought the house 3 years ago, so this is more of the same. It may have a slow leak or it is the humidity (we are in North Houston) and between that and the saltwater, and possibly a small leak, it is rusting. I would like to replace that rusted part, so I need to look into it.

 

[JamesW]

Can you remove one of the bottom bolts to see if water comes out?

 

[1poolman1]

Here are some more photos. This unit was rusty like this when we bought the house 3 years ago, so this is more of the same. It may have a slow leak or it is the humidity (we are in North Houston) and between that and the saltwater, and possibly a small leak, it is rusting. I would like to replace that rusted part, so I need to look into it.

Rust in that area is most often indicative of a heat exchanger leak. For it to have rust the mounting flange for the heat exchanger, it must have been leaking for a long time. That flange is stainless steel, but not designed to be subjected to a lot of any water for a long time.
The salinity of pool water with for a SWG, if kept in proper range, is less than that of human tears. Even pool that don't have SWGs have salt in them, sometimes enough to run a SWG without any added salt. It comes from any sodium-based chlorine being used; liquid, sodium-dichlor, sodium-triclor (tablets).

 

[tfpflana1502]

Rust in that area is most often indicative of a heat exchanger leak. For it to have rust the mounting flange for the heat exchanger, it must have been leaking for a long time. That flange is stainless steel, but not designed to be subjected to a lot of any water for a long time.
The salinity of pool water with for a SWG, if kept in proper range, is less than that of human tears. Even pool that don't have SWGs have salt in them, sometimes enough to run a SWG without any added salt. It comes from any sodium-based chlorine being used; liquid, sodium-dichlor, sodium-triclor (tablets).

Thanks.
I'm going to replace the manifold with the 10 bolts and do some checking to see what is rusting out beyond that. In the meantime, I have to drill and use a screw removal bit to get 5 of the 10 bolts out. Lots of fun. I'll report back as this develops.
Also, regarding the pool chemistry statements above, I keep the salt in proper range and the chlorine between 2-5 ppm and I don't add additional chlorine. Once rust starts, it keeps going. I expect before we bought the house the prior owner only used chlorine and didn't use the salt water cell to create the chlorine. I know this because the salt water cell was not working and it was 3rd party and wasn't registering anywhere near the right ppm for salt in the water. That is probably where the worst of the rust was and I know it was rusty when I first bought the house, but the heater was working so it passed the home inspection and I didn't know enough to say anything about it before we finalized the purchase of the house (I mean who is going to hang up buying the house over a stupid pool heater that's actually working?).

 

[tfpflana1502]

Can you remove one of the bottom bolts to see if water comes out?

I removed some and no water came out. Probably the heat exchanger as stated above.

 

[tfpflana1502]

I plan to use a hacksaw to remove the heads of the bolts that are rusted and then slide off the manifold since the bolts only screw into the heater and not into the actual manifold itself so if I remove the good bolts, then saw off the heads of the rusted ones, it should slide right off for me to remove the rest of the old bolts to put new ones back on. Simple!