Trane ignitor cost

[rmcaskey]

I have a Trane XR90 Condensing Furnace that was installed in a newly constructed house in mid-2003. The ignitor (or "igniter, depending on who is spelling) has been a constant problem. I've had it replaced it once year. The first two times were blamed on gas supply being interruptions and the ignitor gettting heated up and cooling down repteadly. This time there has been no supply interruption. The ignitor is just "bad". I get no satisfactory explanation for this, especially when this type of ignitor (silicon nitride) is supposed to last for years.

To compound the aggrevation, this time the part is out of stock. So while I wait in the chill air of my den for Monday to roll around, I started surfing the web to see how hard the part (Trane's part number IGN00117) is to find and how much it costs. Last year I was charged $336 for the part and $99 for installation. It appears to me that the price for the part was grossly overstated. But before I go all ballistic on some hard working service tech, I'd like to know if I am right.

Anyone with any thoughts ??

Martin Millers Island, Maryland

[Noon-Air]

You don't want to go ballistic on the tech anyway.....he's liable to further disable your furnace and walk out. If you have issues with the price, then take it up with the owner of the company, and let him explain to you how much it cost to stay in business and make a small profit after paying salaries, insurances, paid days off, vacation time, 401K, medical, dental, trucks, training, advertising, phones, buildings, supplies, inventory, taxes, and all of the other associated costs with operating a profiable business. I don't know what the costs are there to keep a business open, or what the salaries are there.... I am in a part of the country where the cost of living is very low and so are the salaries. My flat rate installed price for that HSI is just a little bit less.

[Bob_Loblaw]

"Noon-Air" wrote

boats, fishing gear, sports cars, the twin sisters who live down the road...

[geojr]

Is your basement very damp in the summer time- the only time we have problems with this igniter seems to be tropical basements. You may have other inherent issues causing this- your tech should investigate further including talking with the factory. 2003? can you say warrenty!

[Bubba]

For the most part, there isnt an igniter worth a chit.......furnaces neither hehe. The Trane pencil type silcon nitrides break too. My last was a customer on a weekend. Colder than .........and a foot of snow. I didnt have the right one. Rigged one for the weekend and went back Monday for the permanent correct repair. I'll agree with Paul. I like to make a profit, a big profit in fact but son, you got raped, bitch slapped, humped and pissed on and I dont care what part of the country you live in. What you need to do is call a few places, tell them what you have and exactly what you need (a xxx igniter installed on a xxx furnace) Have them quote the total price over the phone. If they wont.......move on. This should give you a pretty good idea of how far they spread you before you were kissed. Bubba

[Stormin Mormon]

with any luck, it isn't the tech who sets the prices. When I worked for Sears, in 1996, we had a price book that we could not modify. My guess is the tech is following the price book, and that the company that hired him set the prices.

Three c'notes sounds a bit too high for an ignitor. Trane's parts tend to be proprietary, but still a bit high.

Here's some ignitors for other furnace.

[Bubba]

Warrenty? Warranty dont mean diddly. I just did a warranty igniter on a 2 yr old Goodman that I didnt install the furnace. It still cost him $124. I still charge a trip/diagnostic fee and a warranty igniter fee. You dont think Im going to drive my stocked service van to a customers home,diagnose it, and install the part for "Warranty" do you? He's lucky he got any warranty at all. Luckily, I found which wholesaler sold the furnace so I could return the warranty part. Otherwise, my local Johnstone Goodman dealer wants to charge a $25 warranty processing fee since the furnace didnt come from them. Gotta love Goodman. Money in my pocket. Bubba

[daytona°]

SILICON NITRIDE IGNITORS....very rarely go bad ( that was the idea of them)

80 volt....if I have replaced more than a dozen in 4 years, I would exaggerating And the guy raped you.......he must be a thief without a mask Did he kiss you also...because you got screwed and didn't even get kissed

[Nathan In Montana]

i hope you got a kiss with that. if its the same ignitor that i think it is, it cost me $13 which means ill charge you $39 for the part + 1 hour labor at $60 + $10 trip charge = $109.

[daytona°]

Nate...a $10.00 trip charge in Montana....hell everything is 100 miles apart...how do make any money with all that gas costs? :o)

[Nathan In Montana]

heh....ok.....rephrase. $10 trip charge for anything inside the billings city limits, $20 trip charge inside yellowstone county. outside yellowstone county, $1 per mile round trip + travel time (standard hourly rate) applies.

btw, my clock starts from the time i leave my shop to the time i get back (i estimate the return time based on the initial travel time).

[Steve Scott]

[buffalobill]

sometimes the environment in which a furnace lives is not very comfortable for its components due to the heat, cold, and humidity. here's just thinking out loud: are there any ocean salt factors that contribute to any other electrical or electronic items in the home? is there a shorter life expectancy of this type of heating in this environment?

[e-mail] wrote:

[geojr]

Agreed- he would have got the diagnostic/trip fee but the f****ng igniter wouldn't have cost 336$ and if he had parts and labor warrenty, trane / american standard would have picked up some of this even though their reimbursement is pathetic .

[geoman]

Best not get testy with my little buddy here, I'll have to jump in if you do. LOL! Marks correct, we have had problems up to yesterday only with tropical conditions, I'm begining to think it may be a mold coating that is developing on them and causing them to overheat and actually explode at times. Broken into hundreds of pieces.

If the Trane is a Variable speed it is under warranty for three years, including labor

As I stated, we only had problems with it in Tropical conditions until yesterday at 2Pm. Recieved a call from Dave R and he stated that in his brand new house he's had to change it out every year for seven years since he bought the place and decided to call us to get an answer, I have non.

My question is this, the ignitor from Trane/American Standard is rated at 80 volts, whats up with this? Power too it is 120 volts !

THis type ignitor is made by White Rodgers in Mexico, it was promised to be the answer to all the ignitor problems, we were suppose to be able to take one thats heated and plunge it into a four by four and it wouldn't break. PURE BS from White Rogers as always.

>

[Nathan In Montana]

not at all. i make a good, _honest_ living. theres no need in charging more than whats fair, and its foolish to charge substantially more than your local market will bare. charging $300 or $400 for swapping an ignitor is flat out dishonest. it takes 15-20 minutes to diagnose and swap an ignitor. figure another 20 minutes or so in travel time and another 10 minutes to do a combustion analysis (standard on every furnace i service) and there is no way to justify any more.

i know its easy to blame your failures on others, but in reality thats not how the business world works. if you fail, its _your_ fault.

[Steve Scott]

Nathan, send me an e-mail when you get a chance.

On Sat, 16 Dec 2006 10:44:48 -0700, "Nathan In Montana" wrote:

[Steve Scott]

Kerist, not another "what the market will bare" contractor.

Nathan, based on other posts you've made I think you and I are alike in many ways philosophically, but very different business wise. What the market will bare has NOTHING to do with what you need to charge to cover your OH and make your desired net after tax profit.

You're >> What's this? Just how cheap can we do a job?

[Nathan In Montana]

this is not los angeles, new york, chicago, or any other area where there is an endless supply of "fresh meat" to gouge and wring every penny from possible. this is billings montana, a big small city where word travels fast. if i charged 4X as much as my competition i wouldnt have _any_ work at all. i charge what i consider to be a fair price. if i cant make a good living by being honest, then im in the wrong business anyway. integrity is the cornerstone of my operation. maybe ill never grow as big as some, but ill always be able to look at myself in the mirror and live with the decisions ive made.

how much is enough? my help is happy with what they make, im happy with what i make, and my customers are just as happy with my pricing as they are with the quality of work we do. its not that im trying to do it cheaper than my competition. to the contrary, my goal is to do it _better_ than my competition but if i can do it better while still coming in a little cheaper (through efficiency, not rates) then everybody wins.

.....besides, with my current pricing i was able to do over $11,000 worth of charity work this past year and somehow still afford to support my gun buying habits (over $12,000 this year alone). :-)

[Bubba]

and Im going to disagree. Take an area where I am. Rather competitive so prices are lower. However, right across the river its like stepping into a different country. Prices are extremely higher there. Take another for instance: You cant really tell me that you think that the salaries that todays basketball players make are justified? Multi-million dollar contracts per year to play with a ball? BUT.....its what the market will bare. Bubba