Furnace ignitor

[jimandy]

Just reading up on the furnace in this new house. Yikes, it has an ignitor that works like the glo-plugs I recall from the motors in my model airplane flying days. Gets white hot then poof the gas comes on and ignites. The literature says it will need replacing every 3 to 5 years.

That seems like crude technology to me. At my old house, the furnace used a spark gap ignitor and I don't remember any reminders that it ever needed replacing. Is the world going backwards or what?

[Bigglez]

Is the world going backwards or what?

Not really. The glow plug is low voltage, so is the
electronics elsewhere in the system. A high voltage
spark is a liability around low voltage solid-state
circuitry. Plus, its easy to know the glow plug is
not open circuit (by monitoring the current). Knowing
a high voltage spark is not missing or leaking to
ground is harder to do.

[jimandy]

Makes more sense now. Thanks for the explanation.

[reloadron]

The literature says it will need replacing every 3 to 5 years.

You may want to snag a replacement to keep handy. My mom's first one went after about a year. Fortunately I happen to have been down in Columbus as I live in Cleveland. I remember leaving and handing my brother thirty bucks telling him this should more than enough... Wrong! He got the part about eighty bucks later and replaced it as I showed him how.

The replaced unit has been in there about two years now.

Hmmm, all of this has me thinking I should snag a spare for my own furnace that was installed last year. Cleveland winters can get a tad chilly and they tend to fail at 10 PM on the coldest night of the year.

Ron

Ron

[philba]

funny, I had to replace one just the other day. Getting it in advance is a very smart thing to do. I couldn't get the model I needed so I adapted a "universal" one. It cost about twice the replacement but going with out heat for an extra days wasn't an option.

The newer furnaces have built in diagnostics. Mine has an LED that blinks out a code. I looked it up and it said "check igniter". schweet.

[dacflyer]

wow,,hard to belive that a universal unit would cost more than an origional..

[philba]

yeah, my thought exactly. but I wasn't going to walk away over $30 when the wife was screaming at me... Domestic tranquility is worth more than that.

[jollyrgr]

A spare on hand for the furnace is a good idea. The locals can charge anywhere from two to three times the fair rate. I had to replace one of these on my parents oven years ago. This was before most businesses were online so checking prices was difficult. Some places wanted $90 for this ignitor. One shop had it for $30.

The oven ignitor was the EXACT same type as the one on the dryer; just a different metal clip and connector. The one for the dryer was about $20.

EBay sellers have these in universal type for $10 to $50; complete with ceramic wire nuts to adapt your old connector to the new ignitor.