When I left work on Saturday afternoon the furnace was fine, Monday morning no heat, natural gas. I worked on it today, changed the filter, pilot light is going, thermostat seems to be working..... Fan operates when switched from one setting to another. I just can't get the furnace to ignite and I don't see any rest button. The furnace was shipped on the May Flower with Chris but I'm really not at a place I can dump a bunch of money in it ....any suggestions?
Help with a gas furnace
- Thread starter Alan
- Start date
Thanks for the reply, the pilot light is burning so I'm assuming the gas is one. I know very little about gas appliances, but assume the gas has to be on for the pilot light to burn. But yes it does have a valve that I assume is on.
Kingfisher
Well-known member
Google is your friend. The burner valve ain't working or not getting signal from Thermostat.
The pilot light can still be working but the main valve may not be working.if you had a U tube manometer you could know for sure, tstat should send a signal to main valve to open. Main valves should open as long as pilot is lit when tstat calls for heat unless it's faulty. the old dinosaurs don't have many safety features like pressure switches etc...
Tstat is just a switch. You can bypass it by disconnecting the red and white wires (typically) and touch them together..if main valve lights off, your tstat is bad..or you can use a multimeter to make sure you have 24 volts at the main valve while the tstat calls for heat. If you do and valve doesn't open..you have a bad valve.
One final thought,if you don't have 24 volts aywhere, you have a bad transformer
One final thought,if you don't have 24 volts aywhere, you have a bad transformer
Alan":1v0qtz2m said:
You mean the actual manually operated gas valve? If so,no. Gas has to be going to have a pilot light.that pilot light generates milli volts in your thermocouple. Without the proper millivolts, the gas valve on furnace shuts gas off to pilot light. You manual gas valve open in order to have a pilot light going
bball":36a6pdd0 said:
Bball, thank you very much! Tstat is as old as the furnace and something I can replace. I'll test it and replace it tomorrow and hope it's fixed. Simple fix and with luck the problem, I was thinking it had to be a gas ignition problem...and I realize it might still be, but I have a direction to go in tomorrow.
Thanks again,
Alan
Parachutist jumped from plane pulled all of the cords no chute as he was descending he met a man that had soot on him coming up as they met he yelled to the man no how to open a chute man replied no do you know how to light a gas furnace.
pappy6
Well-known member
bball...I didn't see where Alan said what kind of furnace it was...may have overlooked...if it is a millivolt system he may need to replace the thermocouple/thermopile or clean pilot to increase voltage...can also use a 9 volt battery on the red and white wires to jolt the gas valve on a floor furnace...agree a multi meter is best but just trying to add to your help...good luck Alan in February!
greybeard
Well-known member
It's been 3 days--anyone heard from Alan? Blowed up?--electrocuted?--froze to death?--burning his furniture to stay warm?--got it fixed?
chicken farmer
Member
I've worked on a few gas furnaces mostly Aaons. One of the common problems we had was related to sensors. There should be a sensor near the fan. Its designed to shut the heat off if the fan quits working and heat builds up in the unit. You can check this by crossing the two wires. The other one we had trouble with was the flame sensor. It is located at the end of the burner. Its designed to shut the gas off if the burner does not light. Usually when these are the problem the burner will light and then go back out. Other than that I would clean all the electrical connections.
