Gas and Oil Home Heating Furnaces - Carrier Super Saver Gas Furnace Won't keep burning

My 23 yr old Carrier Super Saver Natural Gas Furnace model 58SSB060-CC starts burning but the flame goes out after a few seconds. I have replaced the Gas Control Valve and cleaned the Pilot orafice. What am I missing?

Check for a flame sensor. The idea is to shut off the burners if no flame is detected so you don't fill the house with raw gas. Look for a metal rod which would be sticking up in the path of the flame from one of the burners. It will have a wire attached to the bottom. If you have this feature, remove it (usually only one or two screws). Clean it by wiping lengthwise with very fine steel wool, emery paper, or similar fine abrasive. You do not want to cut into the metal, just "shine" it up a bit. Then replace it and see if that cures your problem.

Thanks GS. I looked and don't see anything that looks like a flame sensor going in near either of the three tubes whehe the flame shoots into. What I did find is two wires (one with a resistor in series) going to a sensor that is mounted through the box area just above the flame tubes i mentioned above. I removed this sensor and on the backside it has two extensions about 3" long that connect to the two ends of a 1/2" round device that's silver colored on one side and says "therm-o-disc" on the other side. Could this be the flame sensor? It looks to be in perfect condition and is not dirty at all. Of course, that doesn't mean it is working tho. Soi, how can I test it to make sure it is ok?

The parts you pulled out are the flame rollout fusible link and the limit switch.


You have a Carrier three wire pilot ignition system.

You need to remove the pilot burner, remove the brass ferrule holding the pilot tubin in the pilot burner and remove and clean the pilot orifice that comes out. Also clean the pilot burner.

Reassemble and reinstall the pilot burner and the furnace will probably work OK.


Seattle Pioneer

Thanks GS. I looked and don't see anything that looks like a flame sensor going in near either of the three tubes whehe the flame shoots into. What I did find is two wires (one with a resistor in series) going to a sensor that is mounted through the box area just above the flame tubes i mentioned above. I removed this sensor and on the backside it has two extensions about 3" long that connect to the two ends of a 1/2" round device that's silver colored on one side and says "therm-o-disc" on the other side. Could this be the flame sensor? It looks to be in perfect condition and is not dirty at all. Of course, that doesn't mean it is working tho. Soi, how can I test it to make sure it is ok?

The parts you pulled out are the flame rollout fusible link and the limit switch.


You have a Carrier three wire pilot ignition system.

You need to remove the pilot burner, remove the brass ferrule holding the pilot tubin in the pilot burner and remove and clean the pilot orifice that comes out. Also clean the pilot burner.

Reassemble and reinstall the pilot burner and the furnace will probably work OK.


Seattle Pioneer


All sounds rite flame sensor will be in direst contact with flame and if flame on it will cut out ina few seconds but if cross-over bar is rusted flame will not go across all burners will not make it to flame sensor .. also could have a actual bug in orifice .........................

There is no separate flame sensor. There is only the pilot burner.

Thanks SeattlePioneer. I already did clean the Pilot Furrrule orifice, but still have the same problem. I'm not sure what else I should clean. Is the Pilot Burner the tube shaped part of the pilot burner assembly?

I have replaced the Gas Valve and now the Pilot Burner assy but the burners will still not stay burning. The pilot and everything else looks good, but when the burners light, they go out in a couple of seconds. Most times all three burners don't even have time to light before the flame goes out. Im stumped, not to mention frustrated. My local carrier parts store guy said that there can't be much more wrong besides what I've replaced. He said that if the Limit switch that mounts in the heat chamber was bad, the blower would run all the time and the pilot wouldn't light. What's happening here is the opposite. The blower motor starts when the furnace cycles on, but then shuts down rather quickly, which i understand is normal, then the ignitor lights the pilot and then after about 5-10 seconds, the burner lights, then goes out. The Inducer motor seems to run fine. Any ideas beyond what has already been said earlier in this thread? Thanks.

You need to do a better job of cleaning the pilot burner, or replace it.

The Pilot Burner assembly is brand new. I just replaced it this morning and the furnace still acts the same way. The main burners won't stay burning. They go out after only a couple of seconds.

You need to start over describing the sequence of operation in detail.

Turn the thermostat down until everything is off.

Then turn it up, noting each thing that happens. Don't miss anything. You would probably need to do this several times until you get all the detail down.


And measure the AC voltage across the gas valve contacts one and two, the main burner wiring. Do you have 24 VAC across those contacts when the main burner is on, and none when the burners are off?

The circuit diagram for your furnace is at

http://www.xpedio.carrier.com/idc/groups/public/documents/techlit/58ss-1si.pdf

And describe the pilot flame, including it's color, size and position.


The pilot flame heats up a temperature sensitive electrical switch that turns on the main burner when it gets hot enough. If the pilot flame is marginal, it can turn the main burner on and off erratically as you appear to be describing.

Pretty much any other defect will cause the furnace to shut off the main burner and pilot burner and go through the ignition sequence again, beginning with lighting the pilot. You don't appear to be describing that process.

Possibly you don't have the gas valve adjusted to provide adequate gas pressure for the pilot burner, or you could have inadequate gas pressure to the furnace.

Also possible---- using a propane pilot in natural gas equipment. This would produce an undersized flame.

Presumably the new pilot burner came with a new pilot orifice and the bag it came in is specified for natural gas.

A natural gas pilot orifice will typically fit the wire from a regular wire brush through the hole in the orifice. A propane orifice wont allow that wire to go through it.

If you have the orifice from the old pilot assembly, that might be worth checking.

Just in the case you pop back in....does the inducer fan keep running, as it should, when the flame shuts off?

And have you checked the inducer to make sure the voltage coming out of it does not stop when the flame goes out? (The voltage should remain as long as the inducer stays going...and it should stay going also).

It is possible you have a bad connection at the control module -

-or a bad control module.

But checking the first 3 things is free. Shotgun replacing can get expensive.... and not very mentally rewarding, either.