The quote from the HVAC service that I have been using for 7 years is a whopping $1700 - 1900 to replace the control board on my furnace (the ignitor is not getting any power). However, I'm seeing the replacement kit (by Carrier) online at about $300-500 from various sites. Based on anyone's experience, what should this *realistically* be costing me for labor?
Thanks!
That sounds pretty danged inflated to me, as does the cost for the control board. It very well could be an apples to oranges comparison, but I recently replaced the control board on my Trane furnace; the board itself cost under $100 and it took me all of about a half hour to replace it (and I was being slow and methodical!). I agree with Stormin Mormom; get some more estimates. Also, who made the determination that the failing igniter is in fact a failure of the control board?
But you know the control board is getting power? 27 years ago, I had a Carrier furnace AC** that failed. It was the power supply transformer that was built into the control board. The AC supply place quoted me 400 or 600 just for the part, and I whined like a little girl, and they suggested my just buying a transformer. 27 dollars. It was too big to fit where the original transformer went, so I mounted it nearby. Dirty now but still working fine 27 years later, as is the rest of the furnace (AC failed last summer)
I guess the tech told you needed the board, but he probably didn't bother to distinguish what the problem with the board is. It's not especially likely that you have the problem I did, but otoh, it's possible.
Even the 27 dollars I paid was more than an electronics place would charge for a 24 volt trnasformer (It would be under 10 even these days), but I wasn't going to quibble when I was saving 400 dollars. (I had never called a tech, so I don't know what the installed price would have been.)
Do you know someone who can use a voltmeter and try to figure out where the problem is.
Alternatively, what problems does the control board kit say it will fix. Can you post some of the urls where it is for sale. Is it installed just by replacing? That seems likely, except that it's called a kit, which might just mean there is one additional part.
**I bought the house in May, and had 3 friends from NYC visit for July 4 weekend. Hot weekend. The AC failed at noon on Saturday, the water failed at 6PM, and the electricity failed at noon on Sunday. Really pretty amazing, since nothing much failed in the next 27 years and never two things at once. But we ate out and weren't inconvenienced that much.What do you mean? How much of the 1700 asked is for labor? I don't know.
Or how much labor will they charge to install the part if you buy it separately? For this, you can just call and ask and they will tell you but they'll also say they don't guarantee the part and there will be a second labor charge just as high if it fails and they have to replace it again. I would plan on installing it myself, yourself. I think it's only screws, no soldering, but even if there is soldering, to save 1400 dollars savings, you can learn to solder. It takes at most 30 dollars for the iron and the solder and an hour to practice before you touch the furnace. Instructions will come with the iron and they are on line too.
Then on the off chance the part is no good, you can replace it again in about 1/4 the time it takes you the first time.
My non Carrier control board was $200 with no discount. I found it easier to replace than a main board in a computer since all the connecters were unique. Something a well trained monkey could do.
You may draw any conclusions you like from that statement. I don't know prices in your area.
Just get a few bids and it doesnt have to be a Carrier man
Unless there is something very bizarre about how that furnace is designed, or there is more to this than replacing the control board, you're getting hosed big time. In all the furnaces I've seen, the control board is readily accessible and can be replaced with an hour of labor.
If you have even modest repair skills, you could replace it yourself. However you should have enough diagnosing confidence to be able to check some basic things and try to rule out things that could have caused the board to fail before just replacing it. Could be just the board went bad for no reason. Could be something else caused it to fail.
Hi, You can get two versions. OEM kit which is just plug and play swap out or universal type you may have to do some extra work like rigging adaptor plugs, little bit of wiring(which I did myself). Sounds like board mounted rep\lay for ignitor or component driving the relay coil is bad. Playing with board, I'd wear anti static strap just to be safe.
right...could be lots of things besides the board..
does this unit have a draft inducer sensor or other sensor that might prevent ignition?..
GENERALLY - a kit means the board is replaced with an upgraded board - requiring a minir modification - sometimes as simple as a conversion harness to make the old connector fit the new board - and or a different mounting screw or bracket.
And if it is just the ignitor not getting power, and it is a hot-plate ignitor, chances are excellent it is a burned connection on the board, or a "cold" solder joint caused by overheating the connection. - both relatively easily repaired.
Do you really tnink Rebecca knows what HSI stands for? I don't.
Rebecca should post more than one URL for that kit, even if there is only one model, and she should post the model of her furnace. It's the furnace that has the control panel.
If she buys the part and pays someone to replace it, she won't even be able to complain if it's the wrong part, as someone suggested. Doing it that way might be cheap enough to warrant doing that, but it does bother me how high the price was. Did they really diagnose it correctly, or did they overprice the highest repair and figure if that wasn't it, they'd keep replacing things until it worked.
While I wouldn't try connecting test leads to the igniter while the furnace was running, one can use smaller than average alligator clips and connect wires, and a meter, to the ignitor while it's not running and then start the furnace and see if it has power or not. Because a lot of igniters fail, and it would only take a semi-competent guy a minute or two to mistake a bad igniter for no power at the igniter. I don't know how many semi-competent guys there are, but I just had the bad experience with the chimney sweep this winter, who wanted 680 dollars to do a 340 job that didn't need doing yet.
Plus it's April. She has until September or later to fix this. At least she has until June.
In other words it wouldn't cost anything in parts.
They still use single layer circuit boards, don't they, in furnaces.
In ocmputers they're up to 3 layers or more and in really fancy things definitely more, but are the circuits in furnaces control boards still fairly simple? I think so. In which case soldering should be pretty easy.
What's the most disgusting thing monkeys do, throw their feces? No contest.
Here's the thing. If you buy a board and pay someone to install it that is exactly what you are going to get. If it doesn't work after they install it or worse, the problem burns out the new board where are you going to be? I agree the prices you got quoted are too high. But I think in your case I think you'd be better off finding a more reasonable repairman than going the do it yourself route.
replying to Steve Turner, mdsecoski wrote: I just replaced the board in my Bryant Plus 80 unit for $144.44. It took me about an hour because it's a completely different board. It comes with the necessary pigtails for the main harnesses, and new schematics for wiring it into the system. I wouldn't pay more than $200 total for the initial service call/diagnosis and the labor to replace the board.
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