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Switched on the furnace today ... nothing happened

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
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64 degrees in the house. Been holding at that temp for the past 5 hours.

Two fireplaces and a space heater are keeping the house at a reasonable temp inside. Its 42 (F) outside. Supposed to drop down to 33 (F) tonight. There is another fireplace in the master bedroom upstairs, that is not on. But likely will be turned on a bit later this evening.


I have been having minor issues with the furnace over the past few years. A HVAC tech showed me a trick a couple years ago. I've used his technique many times to get the furnace to light when it would not automatically work. Didn't work this time. Called the HVAC company and asked them to send a guy out tomorrow morning.

My guess is that my circuit board is fried. All my issues started a few years ago when some water from the humidifier dripped down and got the circuit board wet. Hoping that is not an expensive repair.
 

waybomb

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
I had to replace a board on our Goodman in the last place. Got it for 120 bucks or so on line. Hope your guy has one. Nobody near where we lived then had one.

Do you hear the draft fan start up (a little fan that induces a draft through the combustion chamber and out the exhaust pipe). If so, it just might need a new heater/ignitor. Somewhere near the burner you'll see a couple of small wires attached to a connection. On the other side, is a heating element that should glow bright red which is what ignites the flame. Best to look for this while the room the furnace is in is darkened. If you see the red glow but the flames don't light, could be a number of things - the circuit board, the gas valve, or maybe the thermocouple.

Or somethimg real simple - are the doors/covers completely closed and actuating the switches on the doors? Maybe one of those is bad.

Let us know what he finds, in case one of us run into the same thing in the future.

BTW - I keep two extra ignitors on hand. They can last almost forever, or can fail fairly quickly. All made in China now.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
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Draft fan started.

The condensation trap bubbles.

This has happened several times before.

But this time I can't get it to light.

On the bright side, by using a fan in the family room to blow some of the heat out of the room the house thermostat now reads 65 so I've got the house up 1 degree.
 

NorthernRedneck

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
That's what scares me with all these fancy electronics in today's furnaces. I have a small two bedroom house I still own and rent out back home. The furnace in there was original to the house from the 50s. It never missed a beat and fired up without issue every fall. In August the gas company went there to do an upgrade to a gas line going to the hot water tank. The guy took one look at the furnace and shut the gas off going to it telling me it had to be replaced because of the age. It never once gave me a problem and still ran fine. I just finished installing a new one last week.

Now my other house has a fancy high efficiency furnace that was installed in 2006. It's been nothing but a piece of crap from day one. Keeps cutting out and blowing cold air without warning. Those stupid vent lines keep clogging up. What garbage.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk
 

waybomb

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Draft fan started.

The condensation trap bubbles.

This has happened several times before.

But this time I can't get it to light.

On the bright side, by using a fan in the family room to blow some of the heat out of the room the house thermostat now reads 65 so I've got the house up 1 degree.

Do you see the red glow? Anyway,
There should be one screw holding the heater in. Take the heater out. It will look grey and burned. That's ok. The black burned part should be a continuous loop. If there is a separation in it, you'll need a new igniter. Buy two so you can do it yourself next time.
 

OhioTC18

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
Mine has an issue that the flame sensor needs cleaned off at the beginning of every season. Wife called me at work today and asked if I would do my magic on the furnace, she was cold. When I got home it was 63 inside the house. We are expecting 30's overnight the next couple of nights. I came home and cleaned the flame sensor. Turned it on, it's purring right along.
 

NorthernRedneck

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
The furnace in this house is 17 years old and fires up every time without issue. Problem is like everything else all the newer stuff is electronics that fail.

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Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
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Sometimes when you have a recurring problem you look only at fixing that problem and you ignore something that should have been obvious :hammer:

I have been so focused on doing what I have always done to fix the minor recurring problem that I have had for the past few years that I just was not paying attention to the fact that other problems may be the cause.

I don't know if there are other issues, but the FAN is not working. That is a simple fix if that is the whole problem. I didn't realize it until after I started this thread, had I not been such an idiot I probably would have already gone to buy a new fan and been working on it but I didn't realize it until after the electric supply shop was already closed.

I already have the service guy scheduled (and his boss is a buddy of mine) I'm going to keep the appointment and let him check the fan motor.
 

FrancSevin

Proudly Deplorable
GOLD Site Supporter
I bought my house in1976 as a fire damaged flip. The furnace was three years old and undersized but we were on a "flip" budget. So I repaired the duct work and coaxed the furnace to life. It ran for almost 30 years after that with no issues whatsoever.

I replaced it because we had added two new rooms to the house with plans for more. That new technology went out every fall at start up on the heat cycle. Circuit board every time. So, four years ago we put in a new High efficiency which allowed us to remove the flue and use that passage to run duct work to the second floor addition.

Sounds like a great plan right?

Nope,
We are on our third motor which cost over a grand each time.
And now,,,;
Came home from a weekend trip and the AC compressor was frozen solid along with the evaporator coil. Now the heater part works, the compressor works, but the fan only works on heat. Likely a circuit board problem.

Because just like the last one the board gets wet and shorts out.

Why do they place the electronics UNDER the drip pan?
 
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Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
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FWIW my fan is a couple months shy of 23 years old, so if it is a fan motor then I'm not going to be too upset about replacing it.

If it is a circuit board that controls the fan, and the fan is OK then I've got the same question Franc has about these things...

...

Why do they place the electronics UNDER the drip pan?
Damn good question :hammer:
 

jwstewar

Active member
When Monica and I got our first house in '99 it was a doublewide. We added a heat pump/AC to it. Never had any problems with until 2006. Had a hail storm. Beat the crap out of the outside unit. We had to replace it. Installed a new unit about May/June. Again no problems until fall/winter. Fan wouldn't kick on. The fan motor went bad. Replaced the motor with a larger one. Everything worked fine until Sept. 07 when the house burnt.

Built a new house. The first winter lost power, turned generator on and tried to run the furnace on Emergency Heat. It wouldn't work, thinking it was something with the generator I waited until the power came back on. They wired it up wrong, emergency heat wasn't connected or something. Then Spring of '09 turned the AC (heat pump) it wouldn't work. Called a repair company since it was under manufacturer warranty at that point and not installer. They found out the reversing valve was bad. They replaced it. Come fall, it wouldn't turn over to heat. Called a different repair company since it was now out of manufacturer warranty (and the first company was shady), they came out. Turns out the first company installed the wrong reversing valve for the type of unit we had and burnt the compressor up. Had to pay a service call for that. Called the first company back up and said they burnt my unit up. They came out and fixed it and no charge and was supposed to give me 5 years of twice a year maintenance for the inconvenience. I said OK. Tried to schedule my free maintenance and they won't even return my calls. Only one problem since, we weren't getting any heat last year and it kept shutting down. Called the repair company, in the mean time I went down stairs to look. Pulled out the filter for whatever reason and stuck to the filter was a big piece of plastic that was blocking almost the whole filter. It must have blown in during construction and finally made its way to the furnace. Removed that and reinstalled the filter and off it went. No problems since.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
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FIXED.

Guy checked 2 vacuum hoses that I didn't know about. Know I know. Cleared them and it fired right up.

No fuss, no muss.

So if this happens again I have another thing to add to my checklist.
 

FrancSevin

Proudly Deplorable
GOLD Site Supporter
FIXED.

Guy checked 2 vacuum hoses that I didn't know about. Know I know. Cleared them and it fired right up.

No fuss, no muss.

So if this happens again I have another thing to add to my checklist.

It would seem the more technologies we invent to make life simpler, the more complicated it becomes.:unsure:
 

Catavenger

New member
SUPER Site Supporter
Still pushing 100 here. I'm looking for someone to work on my AC. Still it's really nice to go out on my patio after sunset. It's now under 90 there and feels really nice.
 

waybomb

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
FIXED.

Guy checked 2 vacuum hoses that I didn't know about. Know I know. Cleared them and it fired right up.

No fuss, no muss.

So if this happens again I have another thing to add to my checklist.

Proving switch that signals that the draft fan is working. Yup, no draft, no nothing happens.
 

road squawker

Active member
GOLD Site Supporter
It would seem the more technologies we invent to make life simpler, the more complicated it becomes.:unsure:

SAW an AC company vehicle at my neighbors house this AM.

Waited a bit and then went over to chat with him.

He has a newer AC (2YO) Heat pump still under the manuf warranty.

Anyway the indoor fan quit so it won't run in either mode, seems the motor speed is PLC controlled and varies as the heat load changes.

.... Sounds like a nice idea to say a few PENNIES on the monthly elect bill.

Anyway, the new motor cost $850 plus a service call. :w00t2::w00t2:

He was lucky, the waranty paid for it.
 

FrancSevin

Proudly Deplorable
GOLD Site Supporter
SAW an AC company vehicle at my neighbors house this AM.

Waited a bit and then went over to chat with him.

He has a newer AC (2YO) Heat pump still under the manuf warranty.

Anyway the indoor fan quit so it won't run in either mode, seems the motor speed is PLC controlled and varies as the heat load changes.

.... Sounds like a nice idea to say a few PENNIES on the monthly elect bill.

Anyway, the new motor cost $850 plus a service call. :w00t2::w00t2:

He was lucky, the waranty paid for it.
Warranty paid for my circuit board once and the motor once. Now it's on me.
Ask me if I am a satisfied customer.:hammer:
 

NorthernRedneck

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
FIXED.

Guy checked 2 vacuum hoses that I didn't know about. Know I know. Cleared them and it fired right up.

No fuss, no muss.

So if this happens again I have another thing to add to my checklist.
That's the same thing that happened with my new fancy high efficiency furnace in my one rental. Those cursed vacuum lines clog up with sludge and stop the thing from working.

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Big Dog

Large Member
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
19 yo Water Furnace geo unit ...... rebuilt via warranty in 2007 (condenser and boards, only thing they didn't do is compressor). Bi-annual service completed today, excellent report and shape. Might have something to do with we don't use the unit much anymore since free gas in 2008. Basically for A/C or temperatures below 10F.

Vacuum line has got me the last 2 years on one of the Garagemahall heaters. Tested a month ago it reared it's ugly head. I bought 2 spares last year when it acted up thinking it may be serious so I have those for garage backup. Should be set except for a refresh of the glycol bottle on the gas line to the house.
 

Catavenger

New member
SUPER Site Supporter
It's 86 here. I have a screen door so have the front door open.
Our revenge for 110 (and more) summers.

I'm having problems with the Gas-Pack AC though and might need to get a new one. (Mine is 28 years old.)
 
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