I just went through exactly the same thing with an Amana furnace here. It was the flame sensor and cleaning it with emory paper did the trick. It would go into lock out and then the fan would remain on until I reset the system.
T>
Then find a different profession, because I wouldn't want you at my house under any circumstances buddy. I can live without a heater for a few days, but I couldn't deal with your type for even one day.
Cheri
I'm with you there. Unbelievable.
Cheri
Nice one Cheri -- I couldn't agree more. The attitude of the so-called pros here has just increased my commitment to fixing this myself...
The only thing you are "certified" at is a "certified mental case" as in demonstrably anti-social behavior.
Right, you work 40 hours out of the first 72 hours of the work week, yet still have hours of free time to spend here insulting well-intentioned homeowners. The only thing you spend 40 hours of a week on by Wednesday is surfing the Internet -- and you only do that because you have the social skills of a rat and about as much chance of landing steady customers...
Heh, Blueman, you're on the right track... Perhaps not so much threatened as "taking the opportunity for subject matter bullying."
And boy do they get really pissed if someone starts making more sense than them. It's kinda cute, and pathetic all at the same time. Fascinating psychology in that ng--inmates running the asylum.
"blows but does not heat" would actually be an apt description of these less-than-helpful and more vocal miscreants in alt.hvac. In an industry with "professionals" like this, homeowners need to be more armed than ever with knowledge to help themselves.
Toodles,
-- Todd H.
blueman3333 posted for all of us...
Hey Jeffy is this you???? Google hasn't been invented in Jeffys time... He is a lazy, stupid, fundy idiot whom needs his psych meds refilled.
Oscar_Lives posted for all of us...
Don't waste your time - it's Jeffy the cross posting idiot only more angry than most.
Bubba posted for all of us...
Don't waste your time - it's Jeffy the cross posting idiot only more angry than most.
Hey, if you don't like it here, then HIT THE FUCKING ROAD.
This newsgroup doesn't exist to give you pleasure or to fulfill your wants.
Don't come in here preaching and telling us how to act.
HIT THE FUCKING ROAD, YOU CHEAP PATHETIC PISSY LITTLE HOMEMOANER.
posted for all of us...
Don't waste your time - it's Jeffy the cross posting idiot only more angry than most.
Blueballs is actually just another disgruntled reject that was charged over $100 on a weekend to change his own dirty filter because he was too lazy and stupid to do it himself. Probably due to the fact that he is too fat to step away from the keyboard judging from the amount of blithering posts he has made. Nice and warm here buddy. Have a nice time replacing parts. Bubba
Oscar_Lives posted for all of us...
I think it's more along the line of his mental (dis)abilities. Of course IF he has any "guests" they would probably welcome immolation. Think "Bates Motel"
Hold it right there Cheri. Why, Why Why would you call another company when you already paid the first company? Call the first company back, tell them it is doing the same thing, you already paid a service call fee yesterday and you would like this problem resolved. Any Professional company is going to work with you on this. You gave the first company no chance at all to fix what it wasnt doing when you first called. Maybe you just like pissing money away?
Fine?? So you do like pissing money away.
At this point since there seems to be no point in continuing since you just like to dump money in a pit Ive got to ask......... How big are your t*ts? Bubba
I don't know how the dirty condensate caused the problem either. Once all the side panels were removed from the furnace, one could see tubes for water condensate. Perhaps a clog caused a backup, but I don't know how that would cause the symptoms my furnace had.
Still it sounds similar. I just remembered that mine got worse when it would run for a long while. I had a digital programmable thermostat, and we had the temperature set lower overnight. When it came time to warm up the temperature by the time we awoke, after running for a long enough period, I would hear a rapid clicking noise coming from the furnace, then I saw the flame go out. I would hear the motor continue to run for a little while longer before it would shut off. Then after five minutes the system would start up again. This was before the temperature reached its new higher set point where the system should not have yet shut down.
Once we cleaned the condensate pump, the problem seemed to clear. In addition to summer condensation from the A/C, I diverted central humidifier wastewater into the condensate pump in the winter, so the pump was used all year round.
Don't know if this will help, especially since you indicated your pump is new.
Bubba wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
Are you actually recommending that a homeowner replace their own filter? My God, man, it's a FURNACE! IT COULD BLOW UP! It's got VOLTAGE! You could get ELECTROCUTED!
Bubba wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
Maybe the highly experienced HVAC professional didn't tell Cheri that he'd come out for free if the furnace failed again.
No, he didn't, but part of it is my fault for not checking myself to see if they would.They did bill me, and not ask for money at the time of service. I sent them a check, and decided that when it happened again, I would use someone else since I didn't think they knew what they were doing. The company I am using now does have a six months guarantee, but I'm not sure they know either. I just know that I don't know, and am assuming that the retrofit will take care of the problem for now. I would sooner pay for that than have them keep coming back, waiting around here for hours for them to actually get here, paying a service charge, and then..."I can't find anything wrong with it." I hate having to spend the money, but such is life. I'm old now, and hopefully the retrofit lasts as long as I do. :-)
Cheri
Come on down and prove me wrong, or STFU and go away.
No thanks to some of the "pros" here, but I fixed the problem myself.
It was a great learning experience -- I learned a lot about furnace drainage and controls. Best of all, I didn't have to hire any of those ARROGANT ASSHOLE types that seem to infest this newsgroup.
Only cost to me was my time -- I didn't asphyxiate myself, blow up the house, or even break anything! Imagine that a stupid homeowner can actually fix something without bowing to the gods of alt.hvac.
In all seriousness, I do want to thank the disgruntled alt.hvac pros because without their bullshit, I might actually have given up and called a tech. But they offered a challenge that I just couldn't refuse.
So, please if you are a handy homeowner, don't be scared off by these nitwits. HVAC repair is far from rocket science -- just a little basic plumbing and electricity. Now to tell the truth, I would probably never take apart a gas connection because that stuff (along with roofing) actually scares me, but the rest is easy -- I mean I was building more complicated electrical control circuits back in grade school. Just remember that the only reason they bark so loud is that they are afraid you may actually look inside an HVAC unit and realize how simple it is and then you may realize that they are just a bunch of overpaid and overpampered high school graduates (if that).
Anyway, enough of the gloat. Here are the details of what I believe went wrong and what I did to fix it in case someone else has a similar problem in the future...
Issue ended up being a problem with condensate drainage (thanks Dmitrios for the hint based on your experience). The actual cause of it shutting off was that the inducer pressure switch was triggered (thanks Tony Hwang).
It Really ended up being two contributing problems. First, the flexible rubber condensate tube leading from the exhaust side of the ventor motor to the internal trap (black plastic manifold where 3 condensate drain lines meet before exiting the furnace) was FILLED with particles
-- so much so that the entire line was blocked solid. Some of these particles had also started to clog the trap. I couldn't believe how much crap was there!
Interestingly, despite the clog which presumably had been there for a while, the system still worked until I added the condensate pump last week. In the installation, the last couple of feet of the flexible tubing sloped upwards (after dropping about 20 feet). My guess is that this created a second water trap that aggravated the more proximal blockage within the furnace.
In any case, I cleaned out all the condensate tubing inside the furnace and shortened the final stretch of tubing leading to the condensate pump so that it slopes down almost vertically into the pump tank.
All works PERFECTLY now -- ran the furnace for about 2 hours straight and didn't get a hiccup.
Now contrast that satisfying learning experience with what one might exect calling in a repair man. Based on my experience with the average quality of technicians today, they probably would have first tried to replace everything that moved -- e.g., "lets' try a new pressure switch" or "how about a new ventor motor" etc... This would take at least two visits since they would of course have to go order and get the part. After paying for their marked-up parts and labor, it might actually have worked for a few days or weeks since just replacing the parts might have shaken things up a bit.. But then the problem would inevitably recurr since they wouldn't have fixed the right thing in the first place. Then they would probably come back to the house a couple of more times, each time replacing a new part or so. Finally, they would try to convince me to buy a new furnace since they would then claim that the problem is a common defect with the model with no solution and since it is out of warrantee the only choice is to replace the entire furnace... Sigh... I know the story well and have seen how it ends...
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