This really chaps my @ss

Hi All,
I posted before how my 204K btu Raypak heater rotted away and I had to buy a new heater. I chose a 333K btu Sta-Rite that required a 1" gas line. I hooked it up myself and it works flawlessly.

Anyway, while cleaning out my file drawer I found the instructions to the old Raypak heater. I figured I'd glance through real quick and it too required a 1" gas line. Unfortunately for me the pool builder had used a 1/2" gas line:mad: No wonder it took so long to heat the pool, the thing was starving for gas.

I'm tempted to call and chew someone's ass out but after 4yrs it's probably not even worth it.

I feel better now :)

Joe

Did you really say @$$ ?

I wonder if the wrong sized pipe line could have caused the heater to never operate at proper temperature causing condensation and thus the corrision you had. Maybe someone here who is an expert on the subject could pipe in. (No pun intended LOL)

I just installed my own pool heater and this makes me glad that I followed the directions. Everyone tried to tell me that I "should" be able to run a smaller size. I figured that the larger pipe size had something to do with demand for volume when it did kick on. That is what I think anyhow, how long of a run is it? I would say that even if you go back fifty feet and retie in with 1" it would make a diference, personally I would go all the way back though. I used the yellow plastic pipe like what the gas company uses now, you can buy compression adapters to go to male pipe thread for the ends. You have to go to a heating and air supply house or possibly a plumbing supply house for the material though, but it is not a hard job really. The digging is by far the worst of it.

The cross sectional area of a 1" pipe vs a 1/2" pipe is roughly 4X. Pressure after the gas meter or LP pressure regulator is low, like 5" of water if I remember right....may be wrong though, but it's low. Because of this and the volume demand is pipe size becomes critical. Always best to err with a larger size.
Al

My Dad has the same heater and he claimed he'd get a 2 degree rise in temp/hr. I however got 2 degrees in about 8hrs (similar size pool). It would take me 30-40 minutes to heat my spa to 100 degrees and with the Sta-Rite it takes 12 minutes. While that is in part due to the extra 100K btu it is also running on the proper size pipe. All these years I was frustrated with the heater and had no idea why...........:mad:

Too small of supply pipe will most definitely cause poor performance and premature failure due to condensation and thus rust. DAMHIKT.

pj