I have a 2000 Amana furnace and have had to replace the igniter 4 times in the past 2 1/2years. The last time was 2 days ago and now it is out again, what should I do?

If you are touching the ignitor part STOP doing it. Those ignitors are very sensitive. Also there are different companys that make ignitors some are better than others.

Also upgrade to


CARBIDE TO NITRIDE
IGNITOR UPGRADE KIT

Has to be installed by a pro.

See page 15

http://www.white-rodgers.com/wrdhom/pdfs/06_Cat_pages/2006_cat_sections/furnace.pdf

Also I`m finding that every installer are not bothering to check the gas pressure on new furnaces. Some areas require much less pressure than what the gas pressure is set for at the factory,therefore with the pressure set to high the gas flame being higher and hotter it seems to be cutting the life of the igniter short. The goodmans and Amana furnaces are worse than others it seems since they are both built in the same factory in Texas

I have had intermittent igniter problems for several years, and had to replace the original style igniter every couple years. With more problems this morning I did some research and found out the new silicon nitride type igniters that are universal and go for about $50. From the info, it pretty much never burns out and isn't sensitive to oils from simple fingerprints, etc, which create hot spots on the silicon carbide type igniter elements (the elements have a rough, porous surface) and cause them to burn out after a short time. Maybe something like that is happening to yours? You can not touch or otherwise get anything on the element itself. I found a different brand of silicon nitride igniter than this but essentially the same thing locally and it is working flawlessly. http://americanhvacparts.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=HSI1096048A&Category_Code=p-hot

I've had occasional failure to light problems for several years after we replaced our oem style igniters that burned out about every 2 years with another type from a local supply place (dealer had left town).

It acted up again a couple days ago so was doing some more research online. Everything else possible had been checked out OK.

I ran across info on the new silicon nitride universal igniters
http://americanhvacparts.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=HSI1096048A&Category_Code=p-hot

Totally solved the problem! Now it ignites smoothly and instantly with no rumbling and not sounding like it's struggling to light, and lights every time. The one I found at a local HVAC supply is not the same brand as in the link but is similar. According to the info, I am expecting it to last as long a very long time, and was actually cheaper than the oem igniter. I strongly recommend getting one of those.