I have a Pentair "Minimax 400 that is about 10 years old. The heater will only reach a temperature of around 98 degrees then cycles on and off about every thirty seconds. Found the flow control to be broken and have replaced with no change. While I was at it I also replaced the thermistor and it acts the same as it did with the old one. I know the opinion will be to trash it and buy a Jandy but that is not in the budget. I don't know what else it could be except the thermostat board but don't know how to test. Anyone got an idea?
Thanks in advance for the help.
Kirk
Max spa temp is only 98 degrees
Max spa temp is only 98 degrees
No, trash it and buy a Raypak 
It does sound like low flow through the heater is causing it to cycle on the Hi Limit. I would be looking at it from that angle, not a control but a flow problem. Theoretically the pressure switch should prevent it from even firing in that case but ................................
It does sound like low flow through the heater is causing it to cycle on the Hi Limit. I would be looking at it from that angle, not a control but a flow problem. Theoretically the pressure switch should prevent it from even firing in that case but ................................
Max spa temp is only 98 degrees
It runs normally until it hits 98 degrees then it starts to cycle on and off. The service light never comes on. Manual says it will come on if over temp is a problem. Any other thoughts?
kirk
kirk
Max spa temp is only 98 degrees
A hi-limit measures water temp as it leaves the exchanger. If it gets over about 140F or so it will shut the heater down until it cools and then automatically reset allowing the heater to fire again. On electric heaters this will be a manual reset.
I am not positive on the MiniMax at the moment but it should have a "Flow Control" which will try to bypass excess water flow to ensure a max velocity through the exchanger. This will prevent erosion of the exchanger. It will simply bypass the excess flow inside the header from the inlet directly to the outlet.
There should be another thermostatic control inside like the hi-limit will that will measure the water temp leaving the exchanger and open or close accordingly to maintain a temperature inside the exchanger at about 120F. This is exactly the same way the thermostat in your car works and in fact will look similar. Cooler and you can get condensation and hotter you will get scaling internally which will plug up the exchanger.
So I would double check which part you replaced. You may not have found the thermostatic control which is what I would still be looking at.
I am not positive on the MiniMax at the moment but it should have a "Flow Control" which will try to bypass excess water flow to ensure a max velocity through the exchanger. This will prevent erosion of the exchanger. It will simply bypass the excess flow inside the header from the inlet directly to the outlet.
There should be another thermostatic control inside like the hi-limit will that will measure the water temp leaving the exchanger and open or close accordingly to maintain a temperature inside the exchanger at about 120F. This is exactly the same way the thermostat in your car works and in fact will look similar. Cooler and you can get condensation and hotter you will get scaling internally which will plug up the exchanger.
So I would double check which part you replaced. You may not have found the thermostatic control which is what I would still be looking at.
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