Can (should?) I repair a heat exchanger from a Hayward H500FDN heater?

[RobfromKaty]

Hi All,

This is my very first post.
I recently had my pool installed. We never got to use it before the recent Freeze here in TX. Sadly, all my equipment froze as we lost power overnight. Of course parts are impossible to get now. I was able to get a used pump housing off of Craigslist so that I could at least run the pool. However, the manifold is badly cracked and the pipes on the heat exchanger have receeded inward a bit. I am unable to source a replacement heat exchanger. I was able to get a new manifold though.

Since it is practically a brand new heat exchanger, can I have it repaired? If so, what kind of shop would I take it to? An HVAC repair place? If I can get at least a few months use out of it, I would be happy.

Grateful for any feedback.

Rob

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

I doubt a heat exchanger can be economically repaired.

Looks like a heat exchnager costs around $1,000 if non-ASME and around $2,000 is ASME.

 

[damianbranch]

Hi Rob,

I had a similar issue with my heater (Hayward h500fdn) where it looks like the copper piping receded a bit from the cold. I was told the manifold was cracked and have been able to replace the manifold. That however did not fix all leaks because of the shorter copper piping not allowing for sufficient seals. MY FIX - double up the O rings in the ports for the header and return manifold that have shorter copper pipes. This has helped to make up for the lost length of copper. Mine had 8 ports in total, and 6 needed the extra rings. Another FYI - the O rings are just about identical to some garden hose O rings, NOT the flat ones, that may be readily available at your nearby hardware store, i.e. Home Depot.
Hope this helps and good luck!

 

[RobfromKaty]

Hi Rob,

I had a similar issue with my heater (Hayward h500fdn) where it looks like the copper piping receded a bit from the cold. I was told the manifold was cracked and have been able to replace the manifold. That however did not fix all leaks because of the shorter copper piping not allowing for sufficient seals. MY FIX - double up the O rings in the ports for the header and return manifold that have shorter copper pipes. This has helped to make up for the lost length of copper. Mine had 8 ports in total, and 6 needed the extra rings. Another FYI - the O rings are just about identical to some garden hose O rings, NOT the flat ones, that may be readily available at your nearby hardware store, i.e. Home Depot.
Hope this helps and good luck!

I appreciate your response. Looks like we did the exact same thing. I used the old o-ring as well as the ones that came with the new manifold. On closer inspection (I took the exchanger completely out and had a good look) I don't think that the copper pipe receded as much as it was the aluminum plate (that the manifold butts up against) gets deformed. I did my best to straighten the aluminum plate as well. It works perfectly now. I hope some folks see this and are able to get their heaters running again.