Payne 90 Starting problem

[Impala Bob]

My Payne 90 furnace from the early 90's for my house heat has problems. Sometimes the house starts to get cold, I look at the thermostat and the temp is down and the thermo is calling for heat. Check the furnace and it is not running. If I turn the power off to the furnace and back on again the furnace sounds like it is coming on but gives 4 clicks and shuts down. If I turn the power to the furnace off and wait for 15 minutes before turning the power on it will then start up normally and work fine for a few hours or even a few days. I first suspected the igniter, but when the furnace does work then the igniter works fine. Perhaps it is the flame sensor but same deal as the igniter. I will call for service on this thing but if everything is working when he shows up, then what. Just trying to get a heads up on the issues so I don't get ripped off like I did once before. Thanks for any help!

 

[ForceFed70]

Intermittent issues are the hardest to troubleshoot.

For what you describe - I'd start with the flame sensor. Simply because it's the most common failure point for a no-start or intermittent starting problem.

You may want to try cleaning your sensor before calling a pro. Often there is buildup on the sensor. Give it a quick cleaning with some fine grit sandpaper and see how it goes.

 

[TractorJeff]

My TRANE did something similar to that 5 or more years ago. Ended up he took the Motherboard out and looked very closely at it front and back. The board actually had a smoke burned component on it! He replaced it and it has been fine.

 

[Impala Bob]

OK, have removed the flame sensor, but it looked fine but used some emory cloth and cleaned it. The igniter is blackened but performs just fine. Everything back together and working fine. The furnace must be shutting down at times for some reason and I don't know enough to figure it out.

Thank you for the help, ForceFed70 and TractorJeff

 

[bonneyman]

I would hesitate to clean a flame sensor with any kind of sandpaper, as minute amounts of grit embed in the steel and then melt when the flame hits it. Melted sand = glass = electrical insulator.
Clean the flame sensor with de-oiled steel wool. De-oiled as in most steel wool is treated with oil during manufacture to resist rust - you can't sell "new" steel wool pads that are orange!

Also might check the gas pressure being delivered to the valve in the furnace. During cold snaps most customers furnaces are running, sucking gas out of the lines faster then normal. Any irregularity that might cause a drop in gas pressure to your residence means your furnace will starve during heavy neighborhood usage. Furnace is going into lockout - when you reset pressure might be up enough to get it by. Then later the problem repeats itself.

Just "phone doctor" opinions!

 

[brewchief]

Before putting anything in the way of money/repairs into it get the heat exchanger inspected and the furnace combustion tested, those furnaces are well known to have heat exchanger problems(to the point of a class action lawsuit).

At over 20 years old that furnace is nearing the end of it's lifecycle and if it needs significant repairs then replacement should be considered.

 

[Impala Bob]

Thank for the replies, heat is working fine again. Just waiting for it to fail again and then will call for service. Hope it is not too cold when it happens.