heater problem in my house

[whelenfan]

Hello all,
My electric ignition heater from '92 doesn't seem to want to ignite now. It goes through the cycle three times each time looking as if it will fire up but to no avail. It's late and not that cold out so I will wait to call the gas co. until Monday morning. Am I out of luck here? Is it time to get a new heater? After the third time the diagnostic indicator on the control unit flashes and the info on the unit states that means "check the service intructions".

 

[rickairmedic]

Generally you have one of 2 problems either you have a bad Hot Surface ignitor oooooooor you have a dirty flame sensor . I will toss up a few questions . Does the ignitor actually heat up and the gas light but go out quickly " within 7 seconds " ? . That would mean the flame sensor needs cleaning a small piece of krokus clost or sandpaper will do the job. The other option is the ignitor doesnt come on which could be one of 2 things either a bad ignitor oooooooooor a bad pressure switch . Give me some more info from what I just wrote and maybe we can get you some heat .


Rick

 

[whelenfan]

Rick,
The ignitor would light up and then quickly die out. It would do this three times. I kept messing with it for hours last night. I finally went to bed, making sure that the kids had enough covers. Funny how all three of them slept like angels last night! For some reason, at about 2:30 the wife and I woke up and she said to go and check it again. I did and lo and behold, it actually lit! It has worked all day. I now vaguely remember this happening this time last year too.

 

[jumpingryan]

I had a problem with my house heater this year too. This may or may no relate to your heater (as it is an older heater, 18 years).... but it might help out others:

We have a 1 year old natural gas heater, high efficiency. The heater wouldn't fire up, the thermostat said "heat on".

As we are still under new home warranty, I called my builder. He sent the heater guys over the next day. We spent the night without the furnace (we still have a fireplace downstairs, so it heated up the house so-so most of the night)

The furnace guys came first thing in the morning, and after alot of troubleshooting, they checked the air intake..... somehow, it seems that the intake had a light build up of ice and snow inside of it. We only had less than 6 inches on the ground, and it seems that the intake had sucked in falling snow up inside the air intake pipe where it formed an ice/snow blockage. The guy stuck his tape measure inside, cleared the passage, and instantly the furnace fired up.

It was an unusual problem, because of the distance (the pipe is at least 3 feet) from the ground, and the lack of snow on the ground (about 6 inches).

 

[duaneb9729]

jumpingryan, we get that condition on furnaces when there is a hore frost. if you notice the trees looking all pretty and white some morning, you know you had that sort of frost the night before, and i know our company will be getting calls!

 

[jumpingryan]

Duaneb9729..... Thanks for your reply.... hore frost... That is an interesting term! LOL

I looked it up on google:

"Frozen dew that forms a white coating on a surface. Also called white frost."

Good to know it has a term though. I admit, I felt bad, as my builder sent the heater guys over right away..... (the builder I have is excellent, and goes above and beyond).

As it turns out that it was a problem that a somewhat handy guy could have solved easily!

Anyways, live and learn!

 

[bmwpower]

Had the same thing happen a couple of times to my high efficiency. Cleaned the sensor and it finally worked.

One time it would not fire up because the pressure lines were filled up with water. The condensate lines got junked up and would not drain water from the box. Removed and cleaned the lines and it fired up.

 

[rickairmedic]

Whelen that diagnostic indicator should be giving you a code . The codes are usually on the inside of the lower door ( stupid place to put them if you ask me ) . The light will flash a certain number of times which will tell you what the problem is or at least where to start .


Rick