I have a natural gas TELEDYNE LAARS Lite 2 pool heater.
Just did spring start up - the pilot light works well.
the heater does not start at all.
Any ideas where I should look.
Help! thanks ....

 

See this thread
http://forum.doityourself.com/showthread.php?t=345578

 

Thanks Todrut.
I will look into it tonight. Would you know what are the readings in mv I should get at the output of the Pilot?

 

Should be over 500mv

 

Ok, I blew high pressure air all over the area to clean any cob web or debris that could of gathered there. The Pilot, according to my multimeter, delivers around 430 mv. In your thread you were talking about triping the heather safety loop at the valve. Is it easy for to let me know which terminal or wire colour I should try to bypass.
Thanks in advance

 

430 is not enough to ignite heater, either its a bad pilot generator or the pilot light is not flaming properly.

 

Ok. If I used a AAA battery to jump start the valve, being 1.5 volt, may I damage the valve?
This way I'd be sure that the problem reside with the Pilot Generator. From what I'm able to see, there's plenty of flamme from the pilot.
What do you think?

 

Never have been asked that question, what is the conversion? 1000mv = 1 volt??? Not sure what it would do. you can however use a trip wire at the valve and try to jump.

 

From this image, which terminal am I to trip?
And do you know what is this Pilot Adj screw is for?

 

Also, something I noticed since this spring start up is; there is always a drip of water coming out of the shallow end of the pressure switch, so today I decided to unscrew the switch from the copper tubing (I took a shower on the spot). Is it normal that water is coming out of there???? As according to the owner's manual, I should be inserting 50cc of oil in there each spring. To which of course I never did since the heater worked perfectly for the last 5 years. Also I decided to hook a AAA battery directly to the gas valve with no effect. I am at a lost here......

 

Trip TP-TH and TH Pilot adj is to adjust pilot but you should not need to do anything with it.
Yes water does shoot out pressure switch.
I would replace the pilot generator...

 

Ok I'm getting there slowly.
Two things: first, I was able to fire it up by triping TP-TH like you said (Thanks). Is this something I can do on a permanent basis to run the heather?
I assume: no.
Secondly, how do I get to the Pilot Generator, the way I see it is I have to remove the whole burner tray assy and doing so I have to disconnect the main gas lines?
One last thing, if the pressure switch drips water every 15-20 seconds, should I replace it or the heater is not affected by this leak?
Thanks again for your time.

 

Definately DO NOT leave the heater to run while tripped, it is for diagnoses only. Tripping bypasses all the safety's in the heater and could cause serious damage if left on.

Yes you do have to disconnect gas and remove burner tray.

Pressure switch dripping will not cause problems other than a leak in the heater, it will cause heater to rust where it drips.

 

Todrut. Thanks for help your help and time.
So Finally I purchased a new pilot generator, replaced the sucker (what a fun job that was). Still didn't fire. While I was at the shop, I also purchased a new pressure switch. The switch was the culprit. So by leaking probably the inside contacts were rusted and didn't closed.
So now every thing works fine. Thanks again for your time and advice.
Alain

 

Try jumping out the pressure switch first. They can get stuck setting over the winter. LOL