1:41 a.m.: Furnace is screwed up!!
Well, I was planning on going to bed but noticed when I went downstairs that my furnace has quit working for the night. First time this has ever happened.
It's gas. It does not have a pilot light and the breaker is not tripped. I flipped the switch on the side off and then back on and the motor turned on. It sounded like gas hissing (although I didn't smell any gas) but when it tried to light itself, nothing would happen. Then the gas would shut off. It tried 3 times and then the motor shut off.
Why does this have to happen right now? Any ideas?
It's gas. It does not have a pilot light and the breaker is not tripped. I flipped the switch on the side off and then back on and the motor turned on. It sounded like gas hissing (although I didn't smell any gas) but when it tried to light itself, nothing would happen. Then the gas would shut off. It tried 3 times and then the motor shut off.
Why does this have to happen right now? Any ideas?
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My guess is your ignitor. They tend to go out when they are being used the most. Fairly easy fix if that is the case. If you can open your unit up and look at the ignitor most of the time you can see where it is burnt and has lost the connection (if you put in a new one Don't touch it with your bare fingers, oil from your skin will cause them to burn out). 0 -
Sounds like the hot surface ignitor to me also. It is like a light bulb filament as far as anyone trying to know when it will fail. Some HVAC companies have started to change them out during the yearly cleaning/tune-ups. This keeps them from getting calls two weeks after a tune-up saying the furnace is not working.
The way your furnace works is it kicks on a blower that clears out any gas that might be in the burner. Then it releases gas and tries to light, normally 3 times before it shuts down.
If it's getting cold in the house and you have to have heat tonight what you can do is use a propane torch to light the gas. If you can get the gas to light turn up the thermostat because once it shuts off you will have to light it again with the torch. There will also be a safety switch or 2 that you have to by-pass to get the burner to work. If you are not very familiar how it all works and what you are doing you could get the gas to explode in your face causing very serve burns to your face, nose and eyes.
I would guess your looking at $100+ depending of whether you have to pay for an after hours service call or wait till the normal daytime service.
Be very careful if you try what I described you need to know what you are doing to safely light a furnace when your by-passing multiple safety's.0 -
That's strange, mine did the exact same thing when the cap on the exhaust vent settled onto the top of the pipe. Apparently, it didn't like not being able to vent. 0 -
I'd think one can light an electronic-ignition gas furnace with a match.
When the thermocouple senses a lit pilot, it will "tell" the gas valve that it is lit.
Don't try this at home.0 -
Our's is in need of
service too. Oil furnace that
when on firing sounds
like a controlled explosion
oily smoke and all.Service man
coming this morning.
Gonna buy one of those vacs
they use and start cleaning
it myself.0 -
If you have to wait for the service person to come, just turn on the oven to your cook stove. I remember having to do that once and it kept the house around 70 degrees. 0 -
Your year is not starting out well. 0 -
Like others have said check to see if iginter is glowing if not there is your problem if it does glow gas valve could be the problem. Vent fan can be checked by pulling hose and sucking on it while furnace is trying to light if this workes the flue or fan is plugged. You also have contactors that could be bad but I think this is the problem by what you stated happens. Good luck if I was near I would fix it for you. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by elect1mike
Like others have said check to see if iginter is glowing if not there is your problem if it does glow gas valve could be the problem. Vent fan can be checked by pulling hose and sucking on it while furnace is trying to light if this workes the flue or fan is plugged. You also have contactors that could be bad but I think this is the problem by what you stated happens. Good luck if I was near I would fix it for you.
That piece you suck on can be bad. I had a guy come look at mine when it wasn't workin he sucked on that deal, it lit but would then go out when he quit sucking on it. Had to replace that sucker thing. Cost more for that guy to tell me that than it did to buy the piece and put it in.0 -
The hot surface ignitor is VERY easy to replace yourself.
I put one in two years in a row before I noticed the flame was burning directly on it causing it to burn out. I bent the bracket until it was just out of the flame and it has lasted for 3 years now. I keep an extra one on hand.
A propane torch or match can also be used to get the furnace going when this burns out. The first time mine went out was on a Sunday morning. Over the next 24 hours I lit the furnace manually a couple times running it until the temp was 90 in the house and then shutting it down for several hours. It got us by until Monday when I could go buy the part.0 -
Ignitor could be the problem, or your combustion air inlet could be plugged. Last year, we had high humidity and low temps. The exhaust vent (which was located too close to the inlet) was warming the air going into the inlet causing ice to form as the warm air was being drawn into the cold inlet tube.
A couple of 45? PVC elbows directing the two pipes away from each other solved the problem.
Good luck.0 -
quote:Originally posted by select-fire
Your year is not starting out well.
Lol! Yeah, that's the same thing I was thinking last night. Thanks for all the advice guys. It got down to the low 20s last night and the house cooled down to 59 degrees. Went and got some more wood this morning and got the wood burner going so it's been warm today.
Had the service guy come and take a look at it. The igniter had burned out. He showed me how to replace the igniter and also replaced the pickup sensor on the other side (since it's only a 5 dollar part). It fired up right away after that. I could change them out myself now if I had to. He also discovered a crack in this plate that we ended up caulking for a temporary fix. Looks like that will need to be replaced down the road too.
Smokeeater was right. It did run me 97 bucks for everything but it was worth it because now I know how to do it and he discovered the crack that I wouldn't have noticed.
Anyway, thanks for the replies.0
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