Gas and Oil Home Heating Furnaces - Glow Ignitor stays on

I have an Arcoaire RPJ II gas forced air furnace. The glow ignitor remains on all the time. I have only recently noticed it. There are no flashing code indicators. It is on throughout the entire heating cycle (call for heat, blower, normal ignitor on time, gas introduction, normal ignitor off time, furnace heats for however long, gas shuts off, blower shuts off). It stays on and doesn't react to the cycle. Any help would be appreciated, as I am sure this condition will shorten the life of the ignitor. Thanks.

Sounds like the ignitor control board is "stuck"... I don't know this brand, and what they use for control. Follow the wire from this ignitor, and post the make/model on it.

The control board has the following printed on it:

The General 90
Inter City Products
Total Furnace Control
Model 50A50-110

Also, printed to the side is: 1380-686

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Yes, the relay turning the ignitor on is stuck.


You might get lucky by rapping on the ignition control to see if it will free up, but you might wind up breaking the control and having no heat, too.

Your solution is to replace the ignition control module.

I'd first make sure that it indeed has electricity stuck going through it (easily verifiable with a voltmeter), and not caused from the ignitor being in the flame.

The tapping worked. Thank you. I realize this may be temporary. Any idea on what a replacement would/should cost.

I tip my hat to this site. This is probably my 4th or 5th fix in my house.

$30-35? for the part about. Depends where in the country you are. Where people make more money, many things cost more. You can't win.

I think ko is referring to replacing the ignition control module.

Hard to say on price. Shopping around will likely get you a cheaper price, but more important for a DIY installation is getting the right part. And it's not uncommon for updated parts nto have different ways of connecting the wires.

You can try a DIY replacement if you wish, but having an experience repairman do the job, inspect the furnace and do any need maintenance work has a lot to recommend it.

I think ko is referring to replacing the ignition control module.

Yes, most likely. I didn't even have a beer yet.

Hard to say on price.

I'd venture a guess in the $100-150 range. Mine was $97. They give me a fair price.

And it's not uncommon for updated parts nto have different ways of connecting the wires.

The one I just got right from the heating dept. specialist at the supply house where I have an account, required you to read (a small thick pamphlet) about how it mounts (they show a big circled red X through picture of it being wrongly mounted with the terminals facing up!), and if the jumper wire on it has to stay or go, or if you need to abandon the 24v and instead hook the wire to the TH-W (which I had to in my case even though it was 24V on the old bad one), and 2 dip switches for the purge time and ignition time. A big small booklet to read.

Isn't that pretty much the way it always is though, these days? I told the person, "It be so simple if you just had the exact one I need." The person said, "Well, ya, but this is the new way they are making them now and they fit various furnaces, so that means you have to set he control module up to fit your particular furnace."