Flame Sensor in house furnace!

[X-it]

This was my cost for the exact model of furnace i have, in american dollars. I think they every model you can think of.

 

[Luke The Drifter]

I had an issue with my furnace last spring, woke up to a chilly house. It would light off and then kick out, it’d do that three times then fault out. I thought maybe the filter was restricted (I have 3 dogs and filters don’t last long), changed the filter, and that sorta helped but it still would fault out. Took the sensor out, polished it with scotch brite and I haven’t had an issue since. It’s pretty amazing how sensitive that system is since the flame sensor didn’t look dirty.

 

[ZRrrr]

Do this at the beginning of every winter. Have 2 furnaces and ultimately if I do not clean up the flame sensor one or the other will take a break at an inopportune time...Lol. Simple and effective. Been doing this for close to 10 years. A must do yearly in my opinion.

I had an issue with my furnace last spring, woke up to a chilly house. It would light off and then kick out, it’d do that three times then fault out. I thought maybe the filter was restricted (I have 3 dogs and filters don’t last long), changed the filter, and that sorta helped but it still would fault out. Took the sensor out, polished it with scotch brite and I haven’t had an issue since. It’s pretty amazing how sensitive that system is since the flame sensor didn’t look dirty.

 

[meierjn]

I used to clean the flame sensor every fall and had a couple of igniters on hand in the event it crapped out. I did this in our previous house as well as the one that we are currently in. Our furnace started to make a weird "wump wump" sound a few winters ago when it was really cold out and would not fire for long. The furnace guy came in and found a big hole in our heat exchanger. It wasn't on warranty anymore so we decided to have a nice new Lennox installed. It is much quieter and supposedly more efficient. There are places in the house that are warmer than they were with the old furnace and the house warms up much quicker than it did before. I had AC coils installed when the furnace went in and then had the AC installed 2 springs ago. I'm glad I did since it was a hot summer that year and I was stuck at home for a good portion of August after my MC accident! The only issue is that you can't really service anything yourself other than the filters and keeping the AC unit clean and free from the fuzz and chit that floats around in the spring. In our opinion it was worth the upgrade.

 

[skid]

I used to clean the flame sensor every fall and had a couple of igniters on hand in the event it crapped out. I did this in our previous house as well as the one that we are currently in. Our furnace started to make a weird "wump wump" sound a few winters ago when it was really cold out and would not fire for long. The furnace guy came in and found a big hole in our heat exchanger. It wasn't on warranty anymore so we decided to have a nice new Lennox installed. It is much quieter and supposedly more efficient. There are places in the house that are warmer than they were with the old furnace and the house warms up much quicker than it did before. I had AC coils installed when the furnace went in and then had the AC installed 2 springs ago. I'm glad I did since it was a hot summer that year and I was stuck at home for a good portion of August after my MC accident! The only issue is that you can't really service anything yourself other than the filters and keeping the AC unit clean and free from the fuzz and chit that floats around in the spring. In our opinion it was worth the upgrade.

all that plus you won’t get carbon monoxide poisoning

 

[kimrick]

I had an issue with my furnace last spring, woke up to a chilly house. It would light off and then kick out, it’d do that three times then fault out. I thought maybe the filter was restricted (I have 3 dogs and filters don’t last long), changed the filter, and that sorta helped but it still would fault out. Took the sensor out, polished it with scotch brite and I haven’t had an issue since. It’s pretty amazing how sensitive that system is since the flame sensor didn’t look dirty.

Good point on the filter also.
Those expensive super cleaning filters plug up fast also.
Daughter called with the cold house problem.
I head over with tool kit all prepared to remove and clean flame sensor.
Pull filter first and sucked into furnace and plugged.

Both houses we own had to replace flame sensors.
Ordered on Amazon cheap.

Got tired of cleaning and just replaced both.
Cleaned up sensors I removed and saved in case of 40 below and they **** the bed.

Good thread folks. Thankd for all the good points.
May save peeps alot of heart aches and cost.

 

[Revgirl]

Thanks guys ... i ordered mine yesterday from repairclinic.com. Not sure if that site is any good or not but the had the exact name and model for my furnace.

We've used that site. Now that we have the part number we buy it on Amazon for half the price.

 

[Cyle]

Think I jinxed myself. One renter just called, water heater not working. At least it’s not as urgent as furnace, but it’s only 5.5 years old it shouldn’t be shot. Hoping maybe vent just frozen.