Gas and Oil Home Heating Furnaces - Possible bad ignitor?

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dennis13
01-17-06, 06:28 PM
Hi all. I have a Heil DC90 gas forced air furnace that is approx 7-9 yrs old and it will light up for one cycle but when it shuts off then tries to turn on again for the next cycle the igntor doesnt light. If I let it sit for a while it will light on the first try but on subsequent cycles it will not light. The inducer motor went and was replaced yesterday and right after it was replaced this happened. About 3 yrs ago we had a similar prob and the local gas Co. came out and changed the ignitor assembly on an emergency call so it was prety expensive. Could it be the same problem or something else? I took out the ignitor to see if it needed to be cleaned and used some fine steel wool to see it it would help but it didnt look dirty and didnt have any buildup on it and it fired right away when I replaced it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. We are lucky that when we moved into this house 5 yrs ago we left the electric baseboard heaters in because it was cold here in MA the first time we had a problem and ironically this time we had a problem it was the coldest day of the year so we didnt freeze. We also have a fireplace in the living room and a small wood stove in the finished half of the basement so even though the furnace wont stay on we arent freezing :cool: If you need any more info I will gladly post it for you. Thanks in advance for any/all help.


Jay11J
01-17-06, 07:55 PM
This only happend after it been shut down for a while? or what has the pattern been for this not to light??

dennis13
01-17-06, 10:54 PM
The furnace was left off last night while I was at work and when I got home this morning I turned it on to see what it was doing. It fired up right away and I let it go through a heating cycle. The thermostat temp was 66*F so I set it to 68*F and let it go through its full cycle and it shut off at 68*F like normal. So I waited for it's next cycle and it will try to fire but doesnt. The inducer motor turns on then nothing happens. I watched it through the the sight glass in the combustion chamber?(where the ignitor is) and I dont see the normal glow and there is no click for the gas nor any click for the spark. The incucer motor just keeps running. I imagine its trying to go through some type of reset cycle but it never fires back on. Thats why I wasnt sure if it was just the ignitor or not because itseems from a cold start all is well but then its nothing. :wall: This only happened after the new induction motor was installed. After it was installed I think it went through at least a couple of cycles before this happened but I am not 100% sure of that. I work nights so I was trying to get some sleep after the tech installed the new motor and when I woke up to get ready for work my GF told me what was going on. Been like that ever since. ALso the thermostat is set for heat, fan set to auto. Had to double check this morning just to make sure, my GF didnt seem to understand what I was asking when she called me at work about it