Pentair MasterTemp 400 Gas Heater - gas smell upon start up

[michaelbuday]

Had a brand new MasterTemp heater installed a few months ago. Works perfectly, but, there’s always distinct smell of gas when the heater ignites even if your ten feet away from the heater. When the heater initializes upon startup, after the blower runs for about 15 sec, the gas valve opens, and then ignition occurs about 1.5 to 2 seconds later. As an aside, my son has new Hayward pool heater and experiences the same problem, but the installer claims this is normal behavior - the same installer who installed the Pentair heater for me.

My previous Raypak heater ignited almost instantaneously when the gas valve opened, so I never smelled gas like this. I could hear it clicking just before the valve opened.

A) is this normal?
B) is there any kind of timing adjustment for ignition once gas flow is confirmed?

Thanks in advance,
Michael

 

[ajw22]

What are your static and dynamic gas pressures as measured by a manometer?

What is the CFM rating of the gas meter at your house? Post pictures of the gas meter data plates.

A NG heater will retry ignition three times before it throws an IF error. Your heater is probably not lighting on the first try.

You can check the resistance of the igniter. It should be 50 ohms.

Pentair MasterTemp Heaters - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[BillT2]

Edit

 

[1poolman1]

Had a brand new MasterTemp heater installed a few months ago. Works perfectly, but, there’s always distinct smell of gas when the heater ignites even if your ten feet away from the heater. When the heater initializes upon startup, after the blower runs for about 15 sec, the gas valve opens, and then ignition occurs about 1.5 to 2 seconds later. As an aside, my son has new Hayward pool heater and experiences the same problem, but the installer claims this is normal behavior - the same installer who installed the Pentair heater for me.

My previous Raypak heater ignited almost instantaneously when the gas valve opened, so I never smelled gas like this. I could hear it clicking just before the valve opened.

A) is this normal?
B) is there any kind of timing adjustment for ignition once gas flow is confirmed?

Thanks in advance,
Michael

Yes, normal. Install enough and you remember to tell the customer that.

 

[wireform]

Yes it's normal. Just turned on a mastertemp and the same smell for a second.

 

[BillT2]

The industry guys know far better than I do as far as some smell being normal - so I'll say then I don't know on that. For me I can't remember smelling gas near the unit since a couple years ago after regulator fix - before that I could smell gas for 10ft and further away as you were saying OP, only at start up and in short no question that mine had been coming out the old regulator. Just for your reference

 

[michaelbuday]

If you have a regulator on the gas line between the meter and the heater, be sure to check that. I have the same heater, had the exact issue you describe - strong smell only at startup. After testing the unit, I eventually realized the regulator on the gas line was dumping gas from the relief valve, but only at startup. They can be defective, or a gas technician told me once they can blow out if gas is cut on too fast from the shutoff. When I was trying to fix my issue it was windy, and since gas was only coming out of the regulator relief for a couple seconds and only at each startup cycle, it took a while for me to realize it was coming from the regulator and not the heater. In that case, replacing regulator was the fix. Otherwise there is a lot of testing I think noted in the manual.

In any case - my heater operates the same way you describe, I listened to it so many times I can hear it in my head - but no there should not be a gas smell - or there isn't one here anymore for what that's worth....
also - the installer may be correct.... if he installed both of those systems as you said, and they both have a strong gas smell from far away, then technically it's normal behavior all things considered....

Thanks for the detailed reply. There is a regulator I believe, but it’s 80 feet away on the other side of the house near the gas meter. I called the installer today and he said this is normal for this heater, which uses a glowing element rather than a “spark” igniter.

 

[michaelbuday]

The industry guys know far better than I do as far as some smell being normal - so I'll say then I don't know on that. For me I can't remember smelling gas near the unit since a couple years ago after regulator fix - before that I could smell gas for 10ft and further away as you were saying OP, only at start up and in short no question that mine had been coming out the old regulator. Just for your reference

Thanks. There is no regulator near the pool equipment, only at the gas meter over 80 feet away.

 

[michaelbuday]

Yes, normal. Install enough and you remember to tell the customer that.

Thanks, my installer agrees.

 

[michaelbuday]

What are your static and dynamic gas pressures as measured by a manometer?

What is the CFM rating of the gas meter at your house? Post pictures of the gas meter data plates.

A NG heater will retry ignition three times before it throws an IF error. Your heater is probably not lighting on the first try.

You can check the resistance of the igniter. It should be 50 ohms.

Pentair MasterTemp Heaters - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Thanks. I couldn’t tell you what the pressure readings are, but I know the meter was upgraded to accommodate the pool when it was build 13 years ago. I’ll take a pic of the plates.