Pentair Minimax NT Problems?

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lilpuppy99
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Pentair Minimax NT Problems?

Postby lilpuppy99 » Mon 16 Dec, 2013 18:19

Where do I purchase this run capacitor? Is there a certain model I need. Is it available on Amazon?

My spool has a Pentair Minimax NT and the pool guy just replaced the blower fan. The heater now turns on and begins heating the water for about 10 minutes, but once the temperature gets to 66 degrees, the gas/flame/heat cut off. The fan stays blowing, but now the air coming from the top of the heater is cool air. After a few minutes, an E04 code pops up, but eventually the heater kicks back on and works fine until it gets to 66 degrees, where it cuts back off. I'll also get an E05 code from time to time. I have the pool and spa temps both set at 104 degrees. What should I do? It seems to me that there is some sensor or something causing the heater to turn off. I don't know much about this, I'm just renting the place. The pool guy has been trying to fix this for almost 3 weeks and I still cant get the heat past 66 degrees. I know so far they have replaced an ignitor(looked similar to my gas grill ignitor), rewired a bunch of stuff, and replaced the fan blower motor.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.


ChrisL
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Pentair Minimax NT Problems?

Postby ChrisL » Thu 09 Jan, 2014 23:49

This is the original poster of the run cap advice (Not a heater repair guy), I had to change ID because my account was locked out.

The run capacitor replacement has made my Pentair minimax run without issue since my first post (Dec 2011). No more E04s, E05s, doesn't work after a rain, works sometimes, starts sometimes or other flakey electrical behavior issues since the original post. The fan "ran" for a long time with the bad cap, but was blasting so much noise all over the place that the controller threw those error codes around till I fixed it. About a month after replacing, the step down transformer to the control panel blew, maybe because of the cap also, so I replaced that also. (that one was easy, no LEDs lit, and everything was working fine for a month or so before it gave out, so I know the cap fixed the cause of the E codes)

If you need to replace the cap, just turn off power, remove the silver air vent housing and screws, lift the top plastic cover remove the existing cap, and take the part with you to match. It should be marked with a capacitance and voltage, and is called a "run" capacitor.

It is $10 or less, and literally takes 15 minutes more than the time needed to get the part in hand.

I got mine on line, but I also saw people go to Home Depot, HVAC (Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning) places, etc.

I wouldn't do this first for obvious mechanical, gas, or flow issues (ie banging noises, no gas, etc) but would try it FIRST for overall flaky electrical behavior.

One thing I just noticed is that you replaced the motor, which should have come with a new cap. This may not be the issue with your spa, unless the motor was a used one.
ChrisL
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Pentair Minimax NT Problems?

Postby ChrisL » Thu 09 Jan, 2014 23:54

Not a heater repair guy wrote:I'll give everyone having weird intermittent behavior with their Pentair Minmax heater a hint up front, before the long story below. REPLACE THE RUN CAPACITOR ON THE FAN MOTOR! It is a $10 to $20 part that can be replaced in 15 minutes. Just waste $20 and do it first and see if it fixes all your problems.

Turn off breakers, confirm no power to unit, remove 6 screws on top that hold the fan cover down, pull the cover up and off, and remove and replace the oval run capacitor. You need a 5MFD, 370 V or greater oval capacitor, available on the internet or most HVAC supply stores.

E04, EO5, fan eventually not running, ignitor module flashing once, twice, control panel eventual not powering up were all caused by the capacitor slowly degrading and taking out the AC transformer and low voltage power to the ignition module and DDTC controller board.

The next post gets the long story.....


The value for my heater was in original post above, but make sure yours is the same when you remove it.
RyanR
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My Pool: clorine pool with pentair pump and pentair minimax heater
Location: CA

Pentair Minimax NT Problems?

Postby RyanR » Wed 26 Nov, 2014 17:22

ChrisL is a damn genius with his suggestion. REPLACE the RUN CAPACITOR. The part was $4 and it works. I was quoted $500 to replace the entire fan/blower unit by the pool technicians and that came w/o any warranty that it would fix the problem - so then they basically tried to sell me an entire new unit for $2,500. Yes you are reading it correctly. So, thank you for the posts and for all the information. Good luck to all future readers of this post.
Chris L

Re: Pentair Minimax NT Problems?

Postby Chris L » Tue 03 Jan, 2017 21:26

This is the same guy who posted about the run capacitor from 2014 - it is 2017 and it still works! I really recommend anyone with intermittent E04, E05 problems to replace this part - I have 13 years on a "piece of crap" heater after this replacement!

Intermittent E04, E05, slowly getting worse, not working when it rains, when it is cold, hot, etc, fan not running, etc -> spend 15 minutes to change out the run capacitor for $5 to $20 dollars and see if it fixes it!.

Hope this helps save time and money for everyone stuck with a minmax built with cheap run caps....

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