Flooded Pool Heater Compressor

[psciotti]

I have an Aqua Comfort electric pool heater. It started to flash a low pressure code. When I spoke to the company rep he asked me to check the blowoffs of the compressor. When I pushed the "tire valve" like thing only water came out - no pressure just dribbling water. I called him back and he said I have a flooded unit and it needs to be replaced. I have not gotten a price yet but does this make sense? He said the cause of the flooding was from the pool water chemistry??

Is there any way of clearing this "flood" and re-pressurizing?

Thanks!

[PoolDoc]

Referring to water in a compressor as "flooded" is non-standard terminology. In HVAC, a t is a compressor that is filled with liquid (rather than gaseous) refrigerant. That fact alone makes me think your guy is not up to speed.

Now if the water-to-refrigerant heat exchanger failed, you could end up with water in your compressor. But that's a heat exchanger failure, not a flooded compressor.

However, from the "Turboguard" heat exchanger FAQ, (http://www.aquaheaters.com/turboguard2.html - archived), I found this:

"What is fusion blended alloy material?
It is a unique blend of metals mixed in exacting amounts to provide us with a heat exchanger built to withstand pool water that is out of balance."

So they claimed their heat exchanger should be resistant to pool corrosion.

What's more Aqua Comfort is a bit of a shell game, apparently. Google shows a recent business info page listing them as a 1 employee company doing $59,000 per year in business. Their current address is not clear, but it has been:

Aqua Comfort Technologies, LLC
6257 White Birch Road
Sykesville, MD 21784-8529

which Google Maps shows here to be a residence.

My guess is someone else is the manufacturer, maybe York, and they are doing branded sales. That idea is supported by the fact that ANOTHER pool heat pump maker, Thermal Bay, ALSO claims to use the "trademarked" Turboguard heat exchanger:

"What is Turboguard?

Turboguard is the trade name for the specially designed heat exchanger used in Breeder Heat Pump heaters. The name reflects (2) key aspects of the heat exchanger's design. "Turbo" reflects the enhanced surface turbo action of the water and Freon in the heat exchanger and "guard" reflects the nature of the fusion blended alloy material used to guard against or prevent corrosion of the heat exchanger."

http://thermal-bay.com/breeder.htmAnd they are in Snohomish, WA

EDIT: just found another one: Rome Industries:
http://romeindustriesinc.com/faqs.php#5
and they are in Leesburg, Florida. So your heater is DEFINITELY a private label operation, and the guy you talked to is probably mostly a salesman.

Pool heat pumps are pretty expensive. I'm not sure if yours has any warranty left or other such details. But if it were me, I'd do a bunch more checking before I accepted what you were told at face value.

[psciotti]

Thanks Ben! When I spoke to the company they had to have their local service guy call and "corporate" would not quote a price for the service call - $159 for 1 hour + parts. When I spoke to the service "kid" - he sounded about 18yrs old - he said he had not been with the company long. Like you said - things just aren't adding up here so I will avoid them. If I were to say have my HVAC guy give it a whirl (I do trust in his abilities) do you think he would have a clue about a pool heat pump or is this more of a plumbers thing? If I were to go with a new unit do you suggest sticking with say a Hayward or Pentair....more name brand?

Thanks ~ Paul

[PoolDoc]

Based on your other thread:
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?12291
it's almost certain that you really did have water in the compressor, because you really have eaten up the heat exchanger with extremely low pool pH. This sort of damage is readily visible when you expose the exchangers. I wouldn't recommend attempting a warranty claim.

So, even though the service guy was a bit flaky with his HVAC knowledge, he was correct (even if by accident!) in his diagnosis of a heater destroyed by pool water that was very seriously out of balance.

Sorry!

[Poolsean]

Aqua Comfort is a marketing company that sells private labeled products. Over the last 10 years, they've used 3-4 different manufacturers of heat pumps.
So you may be better off using your own HVAC company, since they would be able to get the components to repair your system too.

Water coming from the compressor is certainly a sign of water eroding the heat exchanger and making its way through the freon lines to the compressor...and as Ben said, it will most likely not be a warranty covered issue.

If you're considering replacing your heat pump, look for a titanium heat exchanger, which is virtually impervious to chemical attack. In addition to the Pentair and Hayward units, you may also consider the largest manufacturer of swimming pool heat pumps, www.AquaCal.com .