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View Full Version : Old GE Natural Gas Furnace -- Problems Lighting


nevek46
Dec 21, 2008, 04:55 PM
The furnace was in the house when I bought it 15 yrs ago. I think the model number is BLU086F9. (I'm going off the service order from last week, but the repairman's handwriting is horrible.) It's stopped working on me 3 times in the last 2 weeks. The pilot flame comes on and I would hear "tick tick tick tick" as the ignitor would try and start it, but it wouldn't start. The two times I did get it started, I had kicked it a couple of times on the front corner.

The one repair guy I had out at first thought it was the gas valve, but when he came out to the house and examined it, he said that he thought it was the ignitor box. He said it's not sparking like it should (I think he said it's not sparking as big as it should.) He also said it's really dirty/dusty and needs to be cleaned out.

It was running for a week, but 2 days ago we got hit by an ice storm and my power was out for 17 hours. When the power came back on, the furnace started right up. However, after running for 1 1/2 days, I woke up this morning and it had stopped working again sometime in the 6-8am period.

For a while, I could still hear the "tick tick tick tick" of the ignitor trying to start, but after a few hours of that, it was totally silent but the pilot flame would still come on.

I bought some heaters to run, and by some miracle after being home for about an hour, I heard the furnace kick in and it's currently running and heating up. I'm hesitant to take the front cover off to make sure of the correct model/serial number, because that will shut it off and I'm worried it might not start up again.

Does this actually sound like an ignitor problem? Also, I found a website that has the parts available, but it lists both an ignitor and an ignitor module. What's the difference?

Thank you!

KC13
Dec 21, 2008, 06:12 PM
"He said it's not sparking like it should (I think he said it's not sparking as big as it should.) He also said it's really dirty/dusty and needs to be cleaned out." Did he clean out the pilot while he was there? If not, it sounds like he spotted the problem but took no action. If the spark lead is a "spike-on" type connection at the module, clipping 1/4" off the end may restore spark intensity.