Kaboom when furnace ignites

[Chrissy Wellard]

I get this annoying noise when my furnace kicks on, it sounds as if it's going to explode or something.

What on earth could it be?

[ds549]

dont know what type of burners you have ,but if its old type with rail burners and pilot light,, vacuming the burners and pilot area may help. but really , a trained person should look at it if cleanng doesnt help. lucas

[Speedy Jim]

Natural gas, propane, Oil, kero ???

[DerbyDad03]

Chrissy asked: "What on earth could it be?"

Well, if it's a serious enough problem, "on earth" is a place you and your family might not be for much longer.

Assuming it's an older unit with a pilot light, it sounds as if the burner chamber is filling with gas before the pilot ignites it. Once the fumes build up enough, they reach the pilot flame and things go boom.

I would seriously consider placing a service call before the boom gets any bigger. A hospital (or worse) is a terrible place to spend the holidays.

Reminds me of a show where the bad guy lit a candle and put it on top of the fridge. He then loosened the flex pipe to the stove and calmly walked away. It took a long time for the gas fumes to fill the room and eventually reach the candle. By the time the house blew up, he had established a pretty solid alibi for being far from the explosion when it occurred.

Chrissy Wellard wrote:

[Em]

My mother had that problem with the heater in her basement, and it went on for weeks until she called the police to ask if there was artillery practice going on in the neighborhood. Then she looked in the basement and the furniture was strewn about. The whole house could have been blown to smithereens. Turn off the heater and get the problem fixed NOW.

-Em

[Bob F]

My neighbor had this problem, and it turned out that the gas jet for the pilot light was partly plugged, so the flame was too small to quickly light the burner. I removed the jet, cleared it with a fine wire. Problem solved.

Bob

[Brian]

Same here.. pilot light had to be cleaned. When the gas guy came out to light my natural gas water heater, it did the same thing.. A little boom/poof.. etc.. Made my pant leg move and I felt the heat.. but that's it. No problems since..

[Heathcliff]

As a bit of counterpoint to some of the other responses. My gas furnace also gives kind of a boom/woosh when it fires up, and its normal, has been doing it for years without any problem. I guess it's a matter of degree. I wouldn't say it sounds as if it's going to explode, but you can hear it if you're on the first floor (furnace is in basement). It has a glow-plug type ignitor. You might try just watching the furnace while it fires up to see if flames shoot out or anything. Or for safety and peace of mind, get a technician in to check it out. -- H

[mm]

Nuclear?

[jah213]

I lived in a rental house with this issue once, and that's exactly what was wrong.

By the way, for all of you landlords who are always howling about bad tenants, in this house the furnace was not controlled by the thermostat, either. We had to go out on the (unheated) back porch and flip the circuit breaker on and off to turn the furnace on/off. Roommate and I took turns at night (whoever got cold first, then whoever got hot first, and so on). Oh yeah, porch was unlighted, too, so we kept a flashlight on the kitchen counter by the door so we could find the circuit breaker in the night.

It took the landlord months to get someone to check into the "exploding furnace" issue, which would rattle the windows and knock knick-knacks off shelves.

When the sewer backed up, his answer was to open up the cleanout in the yard and run the sewage directly into the roadside ditch.

I could say more, but just thought I'd take this opportunity to get a tenant's 2 cents worth in for a change.

Jo Ann

[e-mail] wrote:

[Al Moran]

Delayed ignition.

- All the free heating and air answers you want!

[canard]

From past experience, it is the burners that are dirty. Just turn the furnace off (electrically with the switch on the wall and put the gaz knob to off and of course put the thermostat at the lowest setting. Get a good light and a few basic tools and remove the burners and vacuum them ir even better use a copper brush at the end of a drill to clean all the burner's openings well. Replace, put the bottom door back if you removed it (to push on the safety stop switch), put on pilot, relight with a barbecue lighter, count to 100 and keep your finger on the pilot buttin, when lit put on ON and then put your thermostat higher and then listen and it should not bang anymore. If it does clean the pilot as outlet and you can even try this first but if you pilot flame is good it should not be the problem.

[Dan Espen]

Okay you win today's prize.

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