Thank you. This educational look at the inside of my furnace gave me the confidence to fix my issue myself, and saved me hundreds on a potential house call.
I've read all the comments warning not to do this. My heat surface igniter went out on me tonight. Its suppose to be in the low 20s. I don't want to freeze so I'm going to try this. Already ordered the new ones so its definitely temporary.
My Ruud furnace has a spark ignitor. A "failure to light" malfunction usually means there's crud built-up on the spark ignitor. Usually, you can carefully clean the surface of the ignitor. Really though, the ignitors are fairly cheap (less than $20), and available everywhere (including online) so I just keep an extra ignitor in the furnace closet.
So, I’m to understand that when the pilot light/flame is not ongoing in your furnace, there is no problem or risk of a gas leak, in the house. This is during the period of time when you are not using the central heating function of your furnace & the furnace flame remains unlit. The central a/c unit is located outdoors, but the a/c reset mechanism is not located in the thermostat, but in the home furnace unit, it appears to me. Am I correct?After changing the batteries in the wall thermostat, I had to push several switches, close the doors to the furnace properly, unplug & plug back in the power to the furnace, & now the a/c fan(outside) works! I don’t understand the workings of the system. Can you elucidate, please?I forgot to mention, I checked my thermostat & there is no controls for reset, as I noticed, in viewing other thermostats on TH-cam instructional videos.
Called a furnace guy who after 500 dollars I had the same problem, and I tried this and thats what was wrong with mine. And they wouldn`t give me my money back.
I've stuck a propane torch in the igniter hole. I have a networked thermostat, so I'd fire up the torch, stick it in the hole where the igniter went, and turn up the temp. I did that for a week while waiting for a new igniter.
Been here before 🤣 Hot surace ignitor burnt out *_on the coldest night of the year_* yep I'd run heat til I couldn't stand it, let it fall til I couldn't stand it Space heater in the bedroom for overnight
Oh but half the people on here want you to freeze to death because it’s soooo unsafe lol they are just ignorant. It’s obvious that if you are attempting to do this trick In emergency, you are liable for any repercussions. Thanks for the comment and glad this trick got you out of a sticky situation! Cheers
Puzzling. If there are no safety concerns, then why does my furnace have a label affixed to it with a warning that says, "Do not try to light the burner by hand."
That's there for legal reasons. Inexperienced people tend to blow things up when they think they can fix something that they have no certification or knowledge in fixing. Often, rules are laid, not because someone thinks it up but, because someone has done it before.
I did this and now I have heat. I saw no red glow. So when the house reaches temp and stops blowing, will it keep heating, or do I have to light this every single time? Like every few hours or everyday?
you have to KEEP lighting it ONCE it reaches the SET temperature and SHUTS OFF....When it goes to turn on again, since their is NO FLAME, there is NOTHING to heat the gas, so YES, you will keep having to MANUALLY light it EACH time......
Dealing with this right now. I changed the heat sensor because I figured that's why the hot air wasn't blowing. Then i turned on the furnace, red flame (is that the ignitor?) came on, but then didn't catch to blue flames, shut down, and did it again. Any advice please besides calling an HVAC guy?
is the gas on, do you hear the electronic gas valve open, there could be so many issues and if you are blindly changing parts it could be just the piping, i would recommend getting a multimeter
I've been without heat hear in northern Minnesota for 4 years now. I dread the winter season because day and night I'm trying to keep my family warm. My furnace is new. It turns on and blows but it'll turn off sometimes less then a min. Or when does blow it's only blowing cold air out the vents for one to two mins then shuts off. Any advice will greatly be appreciated.
Sounds like it could be the flame sensor. If the main burner lights but shuts off after a few seconds, it could be that the control board is not sensing a flame and shuts the gas valve off. The control board will attempt to light the burners 2 to 3 times, after that your blower will come on and blow cold air and will eventually lock out and need to be reset. If the problem is the flame sensor, then it would need to be removed, cleaned and reinstalled and problems solved.
Yup, please also educate your audience what delayed ignition means and what that could cause when heat exchanger fills up with explosive mixture of fuel and air and someone lights it then.
Mine only has an on off switch no pilot, its a Kenmore DC80 so if its on is the gas still on ? I turned off the red lever and the pilot went out , but the gas is on and the switch inside is on but isn't lit. Is gas coming out? I don't smell it, should i turn off switch for 5 mins and then turn it on and relight it?
Wait so when you light in manually is the thermostat on and fan in and everything? Because that’s the only way to have the blower going the thing light up red? But everything else I read and watch says to light it while it’s off…? I’m so confused about that part…??
In the 16yrs I’ve been doing HVAC, I’ve only ever seen two flame sensors that needed replaced. One was because the person before me broke it. Just clean it with a green scotchbrite scouring pad.
Don't most furnaces with a peizeo or hot surface igniters have a failsafe if they fail to light the gas!? I know on my dad's old furnace, his hot surface igniter failed and would shut the gas off within 5 seconds of a failed ignition
@@samson11105 The ones I'm talking about are older than the smart valves. Even the smart valves have a dedicated flame sensor. These the hsi did both without a rod
@@smitty90100 Screw that, I'm going for the oxy-acetylene. B-tank, air oxidized acetylene just isn't aggressive enough. Gimme a rosebud tip and 7/21 psig acetylene/O2.
The inducer motor is pulling and testing for vacuum, the pressure valve will verify that a vacuum is pulled so that the exhaust gases can be adequately vented out of the house. You missed a step between the inducer motor starting and the hot surface igniter lighting.
@@z95m this motor runs THE ENTIRE TIME until the call for heat is satisfied-- if the induced draft motor failed, the flames wouldn't get pulled into the heat exchanger anymore.
@@z95m no it only comes ok for about 30 seconds and then when you have ignition, it turns off. That’s why this has to be manually lit every time you want to run the furnace in an emergency situation where your igniter is bad.
@@z95m oops I’m sorry, I thought you said the igniter. YES the inducer runs the whole time the furnace is in heat mode because it is always pulling exhaust out of the heat exchanger.
There could be many reasons a furnace doesn't fire. Being in the trade rarely replace a faulty ignitor vs other issues. Should be left to people with experience to repair it properly. Ignitors are cheap
Do you have a safety switch any where like a black button thing that you hold down? Like ours when the covers off it won’t do anything cuz there’s a switch that the cover presses down to make everything work
A bunch of people commented on here that they used this trick in the past and got them out of a sticky situation. Just because someone has the knowledge on how to do this doesn’t mean they will do it, but knowledge is power and we are all about sharing knowledge. Also I’m curious but how would one damage their equipment by lighting it manually? Cheers
Hey my guy, you are so wrong and I really hope to God nobody takes your advice if it's not lighting it's not lighting for a reason. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. Say one of those orifices were plugged or the manifold had a crack in it and you had a spill leak and you are now going to go and put an ignition source not in the way of the draft from the inducer, kaboom I've done residential HVAC for over 15 years and I would never recommend somebody to do what you're telling them to do hell look at the install of that equipment you on.
This is for an emergency heat situation. And that’s the purpose of the rollout switches. If someone doesn’t want to fool with it, we aren’t twisting their wrist but this gives them an option.
This is like mechanics not recommending people fix their own cars. Maybe you’re right maybe you’re wrong, but you have a financial interest in people not doing this on their own, which makes us skeptical. On the other hand, as a pro, you’re an expert, and you’re qualified to give good advice here…. It’s a conundrum…
But remember, if you're a professional and do this it's potentially a code violation depending on where you live. These units are only certified for use or installation as they were originally certified. IE if it's IPI it stays IPI. Don't do this, get a space heater and replace the HSI for 65 bucks. I'd pay at least 65 bucks just to avoid having to do this repeatedly, I guess if you don't value your time or someone else's safety I've seen guys pull their manometer off an NG gas valve with the burner on and it flashed and started a roaring fireball out of the front of the furnace. He lost most of his facial hair and almost started a house fire.
Just aayin.. illegal to run a unit like this voids your homeowners insurance here if the insurance company ever catches wind that a lighter was even near an IPI system. 9 times out of 10 you won't have a problem. But that 10th time if you're not careful you won't even have a chance to know something went wrong
Actually, It won’t get to the stage of turning the hot surface igniter in and allowing gas in if the inducer isn’t pulling proper vacuum at the pressure switch.
This is combustion equipment. The homeowner shouldn't attempt this. In sane countries you require certification to work on gas fired appliances. I'm a licensed hvac Mechanic. Do. Not. Do. This.
But he never do this again. I tried this with one of my friends. Guess what happened? The furnace exploded doesn't matter if you're professional. My friend was a professional and what happened? The furnace f****** exploded killing him never do this ever again
My igniter works, it lights up bright orange/red and I can hear the gas thing click, but the burners won’t come on. How come? It’s a 2020 Goodman (4 burners).
Thank you. This educational look at the inside of my furnace gave me the confidence to fix my issue myself, and saved me hundreds on a potential house call.
Thank you!!! Its 17 (
I've read all the comments warning not to do this. My heat surface igniter went out on me tonight. Its suppose to be in the low 20s. I don't want to freeze so I'm going to try this. Already ordered the new ones so its definitely temporary.
My Ruud furnace has a spark ignitor. A "failure to light" malfunction usually means there's crud built-up on the spark ignitor. Usually, you can carefully clean the surface of the ignitor. Really though, the ignitors are fairly cheap (less than $20), and available everywhere (including online) so I just keep an extra ignitor in the furnace closet.
This is really educational to watch, when you are in a jam.
So, I’m to understand that when the pilot light/flame is not ongoing in your furnace, there is no problem or risk of a gas leak, in the house. This is during the period of time when you are not using the central heating function of your furnace & the furnace flame remains unlit. The central a/c unit is located outdoors, but the a/c reset mechanism is not located in the thermostat, but in the home furnace unit, it appears to me. Am I correct?After changing the batteries in the wall thermostat, I had to push several switches, close the doors to the furnace properly, unplug & plug back in the power to the furnace, & now the a/c fan(outside) works! I don’t understand the workings of the system. Can you elucidate, please?I forgot to mention, I checked my thermostat & there is no controls for reset, as I noticed, in viewing other thermostats on TH-cam instructional videos.
THANK YOU! Excellent easy to understand. -Retired HVAC/Reefer mech.
This trick saved me once when I first started out. Long story short the first burner orifice (the one that hits the ignitor) was clogged.
I’ve seen this happen quite a few times. Not sure why some build up “crud” quicker then others though lol
Called a furnace guy who after 500 dollars I had the same problem, and I tried this and thats what was wrong with mine. And they wouldn`t give me my money back.
@@gimenovax1 What all did he do on his try?
Thank you. Very helpful to temporally get the house warm until replacement igniter arrives Sunday. Appreciate it.
I've stuck a propane torch in the igniter hole. I have a networked thermostat, so I'd fire up the torch, stick it in the hole where the igniter went, and turn up the temp. I did that for a week while waiting for a new igniter.
Been here before 🤣
Hot surace ignitor burnt out *_on the coldest night of the year_*
yep I'd run heat til I couldn't stand it, let it fall til I couldn't stand it
Space heater in the bedroom for overnight
Oh but half the people on here want you to freeze to death because it’s soooo unsafe lol they are just ignorant. It’s obvious that if you are attempting to do this trick In emergency, you are liable for any repercussions. Thanks for the comment and glad this trick got you out of a sticky situation! Cheers
Thank you!! Thank the Lord for youtube, you just saved us 400 bucks
Do you light it while thermostat is on or off!
Thank you so much for the HEAT till my HVAC guy can get here! Worked just like the video said
Puzzling. If there are no safety concerns, then why does my furnace have a label affixed to it with a warning that says, "Do not try to light the burner by hand."
Then don’t, you can freeze until your hvac guy comes in 3 days haha
Also what about this seemed unsafe to you?
It's obviously for liability purposes.
The Q-tip box says not to put those in your ears... been doing it since I was 5. Stop living in fear, you wuss!
That's there for legal reasons. Inexperienced people tend to blow things up when they think they can fix something that they have no certification or knowledge in fixing.
Often, rules are laid, not because someone thinks it up but, because someone has done it before.
I did this and now I have heat. I saw no red glow. So when the house reaches temp and stops blowing, will it keep heating, or do I have to light this every single time? Like every few hours or everyday?
you have to KEEP lighting it ONCE it reaches the SET temperature and SHUTS OFF....When it goes to turn on again, since their is NO FLAME, there is NOTHING to heat the gas, so YES, you will keep having to MANUALLY light it EACH time......
Dealing with this right now. I changed the heat sensor because I figured that's why the hot air wasn't blowing. Then i turned on the furnace, red flame (is that the ignitor?) came on, but then didn't catch to blue flames, shut down, and did it again. Any advice please besides calling an HVAC guy?
is the gas on, do you hear the electronic gas valve open, there could be so many issues and if you are blindly changing parts it could be just the piping, i would recommend getting a multimeter
I've been without heat hear in northern Minnesota for 4 years now. I dread the winter season because day and night I'm trying to keep my family warm. My furnace is new. It turns on and blows but it'll turn off sometimes less then a min. Or when does blow it's only blowing cold air out the vents for one to two mins then shuts off. Any advice will greatly be appreciated.
Sounds like it could be the flame sensor. If the main burner lights but shuts off after a few seconds, it could be that the control board is not sensing a flame and shuts the gas valve off. The control board will attempt to light the burners 2 to 3 times, after that your blower will come on and blow cold air and will eventually lock out and need to be reset. If the problem is the flame sensor, then it would need to be removed, cleaned and reinstalled and problems solved.
These videos are great. The explanations are really clear, and now I know stuff that will make me look like a genius some day. 😁 Thanks for posting.
You bet!
@@EverydayHomeRepairsrespond to comments
Yup, please also educate your audience what delayed ignition means and what that could cause when heat exchanger fills up with explosive mixture of fuel and air and someone lights it then.
Mine only has an on off switch no pilot, its a Kenmore DC80 so if its on is the gas still on ? I turned off the red lever and the pilot went out , but the gas is on and the switch inside is on but isn't lit. Is gas coming out? I don't smell it, should i turn off switch for 5 mins and then turn it on and relight it?
Wait so when you light in manually is the thermostat on and fan in and everything? Because that’s the only way to have the blower going the thing light up red? But everything else I read and watch says to light it while it’s off…? I’m so confused about that part…??
I could have used this technique 2 years ago when my ignitor went bad. Thanks for the info, Now I know.
Good knowledge to have in the back pocket 👍
There are warning on the furnaces NOT TO DO THIS.
Don’t be a square be warm
@@morgan_drui😂
All the cool kids are doing it!
Thanks it worked for me just a quick thing to be warm
Just came here from Word of Advice TV. Is it just me or did he simply remake his video? 🤔 The name is almost the same too.
Thank you!! It worked, so excited!
Wow that is exactly my HVAC unit
Yes this Goodman furnace is extremely common. I see a lot of them. Good equipment!
I bought a hot surface igniter and a flame rod and have them on hand, just in case. $80 of insurance.
In the 16yrs I’ve been doing HVAC, I’ve only ever seen two flame sensors that needed replaced. One was because the person before me broke it. Just clean it with a green scotchbrite scouring pad.
@@DieselBenz it was only 4 bucks so I figured, what the hell. Not much can go wrong with a steel rod.
Will this work on a radiant tube heater?
Thank you for this! Very informative and helpful!
Nice, helpful topic, thanks
instead of car battery can we get a rechargeable battery pack like powerbanks to power the same inverter and furnace
Don't most furnaces with a peizeo or hot surface igniters have a failsafe if they fail to light the gas!?
I know on my dad's old furnace, his hot surface igniter failed and would shut the gas off within 5 seconds of a failed ignition
Yep, the flame detector is the failsafe. That is why you only have 4 seconds to light the burners or the gas valve will shut off. 👍
There are furnaces out there that use the ignitor as the flame sensor also. Don't see them too often anymore tho
@@ajs7878 that's because the gas valve was controlling the logic for ignition. They were called honeywell smart valves and were abhorrently expensive.
@@samson11105 The ones I'm talking about are older than the smart valves. Even the smart valves have a dedicated flame sensor. These the hsi did both without a rod
@@ajs7878 ooof that sounds like an expensive part.
Excellent
Tis the season
Wait, a MAP gas torch is the wrong thing to use? 🔥 🚒
Aggressive 😂
Screw that I'm going for the b tank
@@smitty90100 Screw that, I'm going for the oxy-acetylene. B-tank, air oxidized acetylene just isn't aggressive enough. Gimme a rosebud tip and 7/21 psig acetylene/O2.
It's like, trying to light a fart in the wind and comedy. It's all about timing and a story to tell later.
Can you do this with a smart valve?
Are trying to get someone killled????
What’s unsafe about it?
The inducer motor is pulling and testing for vacuum, the pressure valve will verify that a vacuum is pulled so that the exhaust gases can be adequately vented out of the house. You missed a step between the inducer motor starting and the hot surface igniter lighting.
Does the inducer continue to run after ignition?
@@z95m this motor runs THE ENTIRE TIME until the call for heat is satisfied-- if the induced draft motor failed, the flames wouldn't get pulled into the heat exchanger anymore.
@@andrewludwig9251 Thanks!
@@z95m no it only comes ok for about 30 seconds and then when you have ignition, it turns off. That’s why this has to be manually lit every time you want to run the furnace in an emergency situation where your igniter is bad.
@@z95m oops I’m sorry, I thought you said the igniter. YES the inducer runs the whole time the furnace is in heat mode because it is always pulling exhaust out of the heat exchanger.
There could be many reasons a furnace doesn't fire. Being in the trade rarely replace a faulty ignitor vs other issues. Should be left to people with experience to repair it properly. Ignitors are cheap
Long time no see? Something wrong with my Notifications?
Maybe, we have been putting 1 to 2 put per week. Welcome back 👊
Sir, you did the six (6) steps in another video. Dirty Flame Detector in your failure. This time the hot igniter is not glowing.
Very neat operation. Lucky that where I am at in Florida don’t need them but a life saver in other places. Thank you for sharing
Great tip and tutorial!! Just a little intimidating for the average homeowner. Thank you!!
But why is the gas not coming thru the manifold properly? That’s my problem
im not getting any gas into the furnace please help
Hmmm, do you here the gas valve click after the igniter tries to light?
@@EverydayHomeRepairsdo you do this with the thermostat on or off?
What if the fan not working what if the hold thing not working not making a sound
Do you have a safety switch any where like a black button thing that you hold down? Like ours when the covers off it won’t do anything cuz there’s a switch that the cover presses down to make everything work
I got natural gas but the gas valve does not let the gas flow. So, this will not work for me.
Same here
Somebody will eventually get hurt or damage their equipment, then you will have to call a professional, like you should have done in the first place.
A bunch of people commented on here that they used this trick in the past and got them out of a sticky situation. Just because someone has the knowledge on how to do this doesn’t mean they will do it, but knowledge is power and we are all about sharing knowledge. Also I’m curious but how would one damage their equipment by lighting it manually? Cheers
This is highly unsafe to do by a non-professional.
Thanks....shitt worked
Do you light it with thermostat in ir off how long do you hold the lighter there?
Now that you have your furnace lit, brace yourself for the incoming gas bill. 😲
This is not practical and not safe!
Didn't see disclaimer for liability.
👊🏾💯
hope this works on a Trane
Loving the collab videos!
Thx, more to come 🙌
My 1962 gas boiler water heating system uses no electricity. Thermopile for the gas valve and no circulator on the system. all gravity feed heat.
Hey my guy, you are so wrong and I really hope to God nobody takes your advice if it's not lighting it's not lighting for a reason.
Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.
Say one of those orifices were plugged or the manifold had a crack in it and you had a spill leak and you are now going to go and put an ignition source not in the way of the draft from the inducer, kaboom
I've done residential HVAC for over 15 years and I would never recommend somebody to do what you're telling them to do hell look at the install of that equipment you on.
This is for an emergency heat situation. And that’s the purpose of the rollout switches. If someone doesn’t want to fool with it, we aren’t twisting their wrist but this gives them an option.
This is like mechanics not recommending people fix their own cars. Maybe you’re right maybe you’re wrong, but you have a financial interest in people not doing this on their own, which makes us skeptical.
On the other hand, as a pro, you’re an expert, and you’re qualified to give good advice here….
It’s a conundrum…
Please. If you’re not qualified to fix furnaces, don’t touch the damn thing. And don’t ever light a furnace like this.
Worst advise ever
Yep, your wife was dumb to listen to those people advising her to marry you.
Agreed
@@rcmrcm3370 😂😂
How?
But remember, if you're a professional and do this it's potentially a code violation depending on where you live. These units are only certified for use or installation as they were originally certified. IE if it's IPI it stays IPI.
Don't do this, get a space heater and replace the HSI for 65 bucks. I'd pay at least 65 bucks just to avoid having to do this repeatedly, I guess if you don't value your time or someone else's
safety I've seen guys pull their manometer off an NG gas valve with the burner on and it flashed and started a roaring fireball out of the front of the furnace. He lost most of his facial hair and almost started a house fire.
Just aayin.. illegal to run a unit like this voids your homeowners insurance here if the insurance company ever catches wind that a lighter was even near an IPI system. 9 times out of 10 you won't have a problem. But that 10th time if you're not careful you won't even have a chance to know something went wrong
* Prometheus has entered the chat *
If the inducer fan has water in it and is not pulling sufficiently this could be dangerous.
Actually, It won’t get to the stage of turning the hot surface igniter in and allowing gas in if the inducer isn’t pulling proper vacuum at the pressure switch.
Yes you can do this.. but you should NOT do this. Not something I would be teaching people.
This is combustion equipment. The homeowner shouldn't attempt this. In sane countries you require certification to work on gas fired appliances. I'm a licensed hvac Mechanic. Do. Not. Do. This.
You use a fart.
But he never do this again. I tried this with one of my friends. Guess what happened? The furnace exploded doesn't matter if you're professional. My friend was a professional and what happened? The furnace f****** exploded killing him never do this ever again
My igniter works, it lights up bright orange/red and I can hear the gas thing click, but the burners won’t come on. How come? It’s a 2020 Goodman (4 burners).
Thanks Very Helpful Video.