I have a Bryant M/N 383KAV036070AGJA, S/N 3097A08913, Series G furnace with central air that is blowing the 3-amp fuse on the control board. The furnace has been serviced numerous times over the past two years for various problems by multiple service companies. The control board was even replaced by one outfit about two years ago at considerable expense, and ran fine for about a year. However, no one seems to be able to get our unit fixed for long before it stops running again.

The 3-amp fuse on the original control board also blew about eight years ago. The service man said that the "points" on a relay or switch needed to be burnished, and the fuse stopped blowing back then once he fixed that.

I replaced the old style wall thermostat with an automatic setback one about four years ago, and the new thermostat has worked fine since then.

We have lots of cats and dogs in our home, which create a lot of hair. A service man came two separate times this past winter to fix our furnace which had stopped working. He replaced the flame sensor (burned out) once, and cleaned a lot of hair out of the furnace on the second visit. He said that the hair had caused the furnace to stop working, and told us we needed to change the filter more frequently due to the animal hair chocking off the air flow, which we have been doing.

What would be causing the fuse to blow once again on the control board? Do we just have a lemon for a furnace, and should we have the furnace replaced with a more energy efficient one (our furnace was built in 1997 according to the service man)?

Please help us solve this situation. Thank you so much!

Actually the fuse blowing could be caused by a few different things.
Short in the low voltage wiring and or thermostat.
Defective/shorted low voltage transformer
Defective control circuit board.
If you have dogs outside it is possible they chewed through the low volt wiring to the outside A/C unit causing the problem.

To test any of these items you will need a electric meter and know how to use it. Also a visual inspection of the wiring will be in order.

Your furnace is 11 years old. There are newer more efficient ones available. Let your wallet be your guide. Get at least 3 estimates before purchase.

One of the mail items you need to address is the dog and cat hair. This is causing a problem with your old furnace and it will cause problems with the new one. You really need a better filtration system and make sure all ducts are sealed.