Automation is the part of the pad that tells everything else what to do. So when it fails, it rarely looks like an automation problem. It looks like a pump that won't start, a heater that won't fire or a spa that won't fill. Before anyone blames the equipment, the first question is what the control system is actually telling that equipment to do.

This guide covers the most common symptoms using the manufacturers' own troubleshooting guides: Hayward's ProLogic, Jandy's AquaLink RS and Pentair's IntelliCenter. Other systems behave similarly, but the specifics below come from those three documents.

Safety first

Everything here is done from the front of the panel, the breaker, or the indoor controller. Behind the panel's inner cover (the dead front) are line-voltage relays and wiring. Hayward's guide opens with a high-voltage electrocution warning and says only qualified technicians should remove the dead front (Hayward ProLogic guide, p. 2). Jandy's manual says its equipment must be installed and serviced by a professional pool and spa service technician (Jandy AquaLink RS manual, cover). If a step involves a meter, a fuse or a relay, it belongs to a technician.

If the panel has scorch marks, smells burnt, or keeps tripping its breaker, leave the breaker off and call. Don't keep resetting it.

1. The panel is blank or completely dead

Check the power first. Find the breaker for the automation panel (it's often a separate one from the pump) and make sure it's on.

Then think about the last outage. Hayward says a blank ProLogic display with no lights can be caused by an abrupt power outage, and that resetting the unit may correct it (Hayward ProLogic guide, p. 22). Turning the panel's breaker off and back on is the reset. If the display stays blank, what's left in Hayward's chart is the display cable, fuses, the incoming voltage and the main board, all of it behind the dead front.

On a Jandy AquaLink RS, compare the indoor controller with the pad. The power center outside supplies the indoor controller with 8 to 10 volts DC over the outer pair of its four-wire cable, and below 8 volts the display flickers on and off (Jandy AquaLink RS manual, p. 6). Jandy's quick check list says that if the override switches at the power center still work in Service or Time Out mode but the indoor controller is completely dead, the problem is the wiring between them, its polarity, or the voltage (Jandy AquaLink RS manual, p. 31). That tells you whether the outdoor equipment is fine and only the indoor controller is cut off.

A short somewhere can take the whole system down. Jandy explains that the power center's transformer and fuse can be damaged by a short circuit, and names water inside a valve actuator and a cut or spliced actuator cord as causes (Jandy AquaLink RS manual, p. 15). If the fuse keeps failing, Jandy's chart works through the actuators one at a time (Jandy AquaLink RS manual, p. 36). That's technician work, but it's worth knowing that a dead panel can start at a valve.

2. The panel is on but frozen or not responding

Hayward Comm Error 1 and 2. Hayward says Comm Error 1 typically happens after a brownout or power outage and can typically be cleared by turning the panel's breaker off for 2 minutes and back on. Comm Error 2 typically means power is being applied incorrectly to the communication circuit, a problem with the local display, or in rare cases the main board (Hayward ProLogic guide, pp. 33-34). The first is yours to try. The second isn't.

Jandy AquaLink RS lock-up. If the communication wires between the indoor controller and the power center are broken or misconnected, the controller stops responding and may show a steady screen. After a power interruption it locks up: an All Button controller lights every LED and shows a part number and revision, and a OneTouch fills its screen with dots and a firmware revision line (Jandy AquaLink RS manual, p. 6). Jandy lists two causes: a broken communication wire, or the power center's microprocessor being hit by a power surge. For the surge, Jandy's fix is to turn off all power to the system, wait two minutes and turn it back on. Programming isn't lost, though older boards (before Rev N) need the time and date set again. Jandy also suggests a surge protection kit (Jandy AquaLink RS manual, p. 12).

Jandy notes that a lightning strike on the four-wire controller cable can damage the communication chip on the power center board (Jandy AquaLink RS manual, p. 16). After a monsoon storm, a controller that won't talk to the pad even after a power cycle points that way.

Some buttons do nothing. On an AquaLink RS, if pressing a button makes the display read Locked, the device has been locked out in the menu. Jandy's fix is to press Cancel, select Lockouts, and unlock the device (Jandy AquaLink RS manual, p. 35).

3. The schedule stopped running, or runs at the wrong times

Your programs are usually still there. On an AquaLink RS, programs, labels and temperature settings are stored on a memory chip on the power center board and kept even through a long outage. What can be lost is the clock: on boards before Rev N, a 9-volt battery runs the clock, and after more than 34 hours without power it drains too far and the date and time are lost. Rev N and later boards use a 3-volt lithium battery (Jandy AquaLink RS manual, p. 14). A clock that's wrong runs the right program at the wrong time. Jandy's check list says a system that sometimes doesn't run its programmed times points to an outage with a dead battery, and the battery level can be checked in the Diagnostics section of the System Setup menu (Jandy AquaLink RS manual, p. 32).

Equipment comes on when nothing's programmed. Jandy calls this phantom programs, and the fix is to review the programs for ones that overlap (Jandy AquaLink RS manual, p. 32).

The pump runs at a speed you didn't set. On a Pentair IntelliCenter, when a variable-speed pump is assigned to several circuits with different speed settings, the pump runs at the highest one. If some are set in RPM and some in GPM, the GPM settings take priority. When freeze protection is active, the pump runs at its freeze speed (Pentair IntelliCenter guide, p. 2). A pump running faster than expected is often a second circuit asking for it.

Don't reset to factory defaults to fix a schedule. Hayward warns that resetting a ProLogic to default wipes out all configuration, schedules and settings, and says to write them all down first (Hayward ProLogic guide, p. 7).

4. The pump, heater or another piece of equipment won't come on

Two things are worth separating: whether the panel is asking the equipment to run, and whether the equipment is responding.

Look at the button's light. Hayward says the ProLogic will only try to engage a relay if that circuit's light is on at the display. If the light only comes on in service mode, something in the control is overriding it, such as an interlock, and when you press the button outside service mode the system should explain the interlock or prevention (Hayward ProLogic guide, pp. 40-41). Hayward also points out that service mode suspends all automation, including schedules and equipment protections like freeze protection (Hayward ProLogic guide, pp. 37 and 41), so if you use it to test something, put the system back to normal operation afterwards.

If the light is on and the equipment still does nothing, the next steps in both Hayward's and Jandy's guides are voltage tests on the relay and its wiring. That's line voltage, and it's where the job becomes technician work. If it's the pump, see pool pump not turning on.

Heaters. On an AquaLink RS, the heater light is green when the heater is enabled but not being called, and red when the signal is being sent. Jandy lists four reasons it stays green: the setpoint has been reached, the setpoint is below the water temperature, the water temperature sensor has failed, or the other body of water is circulating, for example the pool heater is enabled while the spa runs (Jandy AquaLink RS manual, p. 13). On a ProLogic, Hayward's first checks are that the filter pump is actually running, that the Check System light isn't showing a heating-related error such as a failed water sensor, and that solar priority isn't taking precedence over the heater (Hayward ProLogic guide, pp. 36-38). If the heater is being called and still won't run, see why your pool heater isn't heating.

Check System on a ProLogic with a salt cell. The Inspect Cell message comes up every 500 hours of operation as a reminder to inspect the cell and clean it if needed, and is reset from the Default Menu (Hayward ProLogic guide, pp. 12 and 15). It isn't a fault in the panel. For a cell that isn't making chlorine, see salt cell not producing chlorine; for Jandy's AquaPure chlorinator on an AquaLink, see the AquaPure service code guide.

5. A valve won't turn

Valve actuators are the motors on top of the diverter valves that switch between pool and spa, or send water to a cleaner or solar.

Jandy actuators have a switch on the back. Jandy explains that the toggle at the rear of the actuator routes power to turn one way or the other, and that in the OFF position it routes power to neither (Jandy AquaLink RS manual, p. 29). An actuator with its toggle left in OFF won't move however the panel is set.
Pentair IntelliValve in maintenance mode. Pentair says an IntelliValve that's clogged, frozen or obstructed goes into maintenance mode and its lights flash red. Once the obstruction is cleared, pressing the reset button on the IntelliValve should reactivate it (Pentair IntelliCenter guide, p. 2).
Water in an actuator is a bigger problem than one valve. As above, Jandy names water inside an actuator and spliced actuator cords as causes of the short circuits that blow the power center's fuse (Jandy AquaLink RS manual, pp. 15 and 36).

For how actuators fail and what's worth repairing, see valve and actuator repair.

6. The app won't connect

If the panel works normally at the pad, the equipment side is probably fine, and the problem is more likely the home network, the internet connection or the system's own connection to it. Pentair's guide, for example, says an IntelliCenter that never shows a firmware update notification may not be connected to the internet (Pentair IntelliCenter guide, p. 1), and suggests moving the IntelliCenter wireless remote closer to the panel or using the mobile app if the remote has trouble (Pentair IntelliCenter guide, p. 2). Pentair lists its customer service number, 1-800-831-7133, for firmware update problems (Pentair IntelliCenter guide, p. 1).

An app problem is worth sorting out with your network and the manufacturer before booking a repair visit. If the panel also misbehaves at the pad, it's not just the app.

When to call

Call when the panel stays blank after the breaker is on and it has been power-cycled, when a Comm Error or lock-up comes back after a power cycle, when a circuit's light is on but the equipment doesn't run, when a fuse or breaker keeps failing, or when a valve won't move with its switch set correctly. Our automation diagnostic starts by finding out what the control system is telling each piece of equipment to do, then tests the panel, relays, wiring, sensors and actuators to find which part has actually failed, and tells you what putting it right involves before anything is quoted.

If you don't know what's wrong, a diagnostic is $120, and it's credited toward your repair if you go ahead. Start from pool automation repair, or answer a few questions in the Pool Problem Finder. A photo of the panel screen and a note of what the system is and isn't doing help.

Sources

Every manufacturer statement above links to this list. Page numbers are the printed page numbers in each document.

Hayward Industries, ProLogic/AquaLogic Troubleshooting Guide, Residential, TSG-PL447c (2016).
Zodiac Pool Systems, Jandy AquaLink RS Troubleshooting Manual, All Button and OneTouch Control Systems, 6919 Rev E.
Pentair, IntelliCenter Pool Control System Troubleshooting Guide (02/2023).

Hayward, ProLogic and AquaLogic are trademarks of Hayward Industries. Jandy, AquaLink, OneTouch and AquaPure are trademarks of Zodiac Pool Systems. Pentair, IntelliCenter and IntelliValve are trademarks of Pentair. They are named here only to identify equipment.

Pool automation not working: dead panel, pump won't come on, valves stuck