heat exchanger fixable

I have a question about my heat exchanger. I have a hayward 350000 heater which is natural gas. I had to disconnect it because it was beyond leaking, it literally flooded my neighbors back yard when i caught it. The pool company told me that the heat exchanger is bad and must be replaced. At the time i did not understand the importance of water chemistry which I do now. Is there any to fix this(like fixing a car radiator)? I dont want to spend $900.00 or more to replace this. If the hole is not too bad can it be repaired? I havent torn down the unit to look into the problem. I will be doing this soon.

The corrosion didn't just hit at the hole. It corroded the whole thing, and just started leaking at the worst spot. It's seldom economical to repair a major heater problem.

Thanks John. I was wondering if anybody ever attempted to fix this particular part and can it even be done?

I've never seen it done, and neither has my father who has been in business for 35+ years. As John said, even if you could somehow repair the hole, the whole Hx is basically ruined.

Brad
Waterworks Pools

Just a thought but there is always the possibility that the original casting, if that's how they're made, had a flaw and it was the weakest spot that let go. If that's the case and you fix it you may get a few more years out of it. Worth a look in my opinion.
Al

Mark, it depends on what you consider 'fixing'. 5 years ago, an unchecked 'tab - chlorinator' killed the heat exchanger on one of our pools. The homeowner is in the automobile business and sent it out to a radiator repair place. Their solution was to fill the bottom 2 pipes with solder. It worked up until last season, when we replaced the entire heat exchanger. The way he had it 'fixed' closed off 2/5 of the exchanger, reducing it's BTU's while not saving a $.01 on the gas bill to run it (I'm sure that it's efficiency dropped:( ), and he replaced the exchanger ~4 yrs later (I don't have any 'hard #s', but I'm sure that replacing the exchanger from the start would have saved him some $).

So, yes, it's been done, but the guy who has had to work on it believes that John and Brad are 100% correct, you will be better off 'biting the bullet' and replacing it (and keep an eye on your pH in the future ;) )

The heat exchanger was fixed by a radiator shop. It was a small leak in an area that was accessible. If I get another 5 years out of it I will be happy. I am thinking about putting a bypass valve in front of the heater. Only run the water through when I am heating. When its not heating bypass the heater and open the drain valve on the manifold to avoid any corrosion or wear. Anybody have any thoughts on this idea and or suggestions on how to do this.

When I had a heater I had a bypass. I don't know if it will help with the corrosion issue but the bypass does reduce the flow resistance and that was my reason for adding it. Was worth a couple psi as I recall. Hope the fix holds.
Al