Robert Ebsen

As you may recall, the pool heater repairman did not show up for a week, and that motivated me to fix my pool heater myself.

Once I installed the new igniter, the pool heater did fire up, but there was a small explosion. I was delighted! I told myself I could live with the sound of the explosion.

Two days later there was an explosion, but no firing up of the pool heater. I was distressed!

What would I do? I didn’t have the $800 for a new pool heater.  I decided it would be fun to become a pool heater expert.

Last night I spent close to three hours on the internet, reading and taking screenshots of comments from people who were trying to repair my kind of pool heater.  I printed out the comments, reread them, and labeled them.

In my half-awake dreams last night, I prioritized what I would do in the morning to try to get the heater to work. I had a list of 15 ways to try.

The first thing I did was to bleed the gas line to dislodge any trapped air. I disconnected the gas line and let it run for a few minutes. I hooked it up again. That did not work.

The next thing I did seemed weird. I took one person’s advice and turned on the heater, and put my hand over the water return hose to the pool. Duh. The heater fired up right away! Here is the explanation:

The pressure switch was not detecting that I had a positive flow of water because there was air trapped in the pressure sensor.  Covering the water return hose with my hand increased the pressure and got rid of the trapped air. The pool heater came on and stayed on.

Who would have known?

Like a batter waiting for the ball to be pitched, I am ready for the next pool heater challenge to arrive.  I may not hit a home run, but I am having lots of fun!

Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at robertebsen@hotmail.com