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Ladyviper · Dec 15, 2008, 05:50 PM

Last night when I went to bed the furnace was working fine. The power flickered on and off all night, and at 5 am I woke up freezing my butt off. It was 52 degrees in my house. I can hear it the furnace running, but it is not blowing any heat through the vents in my house, nor is it taking in any air at the cold air return. Also, to the best of my knowledge it is not igniting.

Equipment info.
Heil SP80 electric ignite, I think.
Some kind of little plastic igniter box that has an on/off switch for the gas.
Natural Gas (but it is not a gas issue, the stove and water heater are working fine.)

I shut flipped the shut off switch for quite awhile and turned it back on turned the gas switch back on, and set the thermostat just a little higher than the room temp. and still nothing. The fan or something comes on but no heat ever blows.

Any help is appreciated, thanks guys.

wmproop · Dec 15, 2008, 06:42 PM

You need to get parked in front of furnace and tell us from start to finish what's steps are happening and the order that they are happening

Ladyviper · Dec 15, 2008, 06:51 PM

Ok, when I woke up I went down to the furnace. I took the top cover off. There is a motor running, and nothing else. The instructions on the panel said to turn the gas off at the switch and then wait 5 minutes and turn in back on, and turn the power off to the unit. I turned the power off at the switch outside the unit and then turned the gas switch to the off position. I waited 5 minutes and then I turn the gas switch back on and then the power switch. When I did the motor that was running before started right up instantly. Even after letting that run for awhile, I didn't get any heat at all. Actually no air at all coming out of my vents.

I know nothing of HVAC and I am not sure what should be running and in what order. But I would think the furnace would have to ignite before the blower would kick on. There is nothing at the burners that I can see, no flame or anything. Hopefully this helps a bit??

wmproop · Dec 15, 2008, 07:04 PM

OK,, is there another bottom door? If so there should be a round peep hole you can look into bottom part of furnace where the circuit board and blower are. Should be a redish light burning,, it could be blinking.if blinking you need to watch ,when it has been off for a few seconds it will blink a code,maybe 2 blinks and stop,, maybe 3 blinks and stop,, maybe more. When you`ve see and know the code,, then take the bottom door off and on the inside of the door,glues to door itself you should find a paper that will tell you what the code means,, it probably says bad igniter,but see what it does say,, let us know,, if it does I doubt if you can remove and replace it yourself,, but lets see

Ladyviper · Dec 17, 2008, 10:06 AM

No blinkinh light at all, I couldn't even see where one should be. Do they all have lights?

KC13 · Dec 17, 2008, 03:26 PM

Typical operating sequence is as follows: 1) Thermostat demands heat, causing induced draft blower to start and closing/engaging pressure switch. 2) After 20-40 second pre-purge, first ignition trial begins. Ignitor is powered and begins to glow (17-34 seconds), gas control valve is powered and burners ignite. 3) If ignition is successful and proven, preheat period begins and circulating blower starts after 25- 45 seconds. 4) Furnace runs until thermostat set point is reached, burners shut down, inducer shuts down, blower stops. If you are observing less than this, the problem occurred between the last step that was successful and the first step that wasn't. During steps 2 and 3, faint but audible clicks may be heard from the gas control. Didn't hear any? Then the problem is likely a pressure switch that did not engage for some reason. This could be due to a clogged/blocked flue vent, clogged or broken pressure switch hose, clogged pressure tap on inducer housing, or a faulty pressure switch. Does this sound like it "fits" your problem?

KC13 · Dec 18, 2008, 04:59 AM

Since your furnace isn't working, I'm going to speculate that you stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night... it's like spinach to Popeye

hvac1000 · Dec 18, 2008, 05:34 AM

The Holiday Inn's boiler is out here.

Ladyviper · Dec 21, 2008, 08:53 PM

Nice, LOL. Anyway The thermostat and the furnace are communicating the way they should. The furnace tries to kick on when the temp is below what the thermostat says. Then a motor in the furnace comes on (what kind of motor? I have no idea what it is or does) then I hear the "poof" of what would normally be the pilot lighting, but there is never any flame or heat produced and the motor thingy just keeps running. I was hoping there was some temporary remedy to use until I can get an hvac guy out here. Right now my work hours don't allow any time to wait on a repair man.

hvac1000 · Dec 21, 2008, 09:17 PM

Under the circumstances you will have to wait on the repair man or freeze. You do have a option. Some skill is need to do repairs as well as finding out what the problem really is on your end. We can only use information that is given to us to try and figure out what the real problem is.

MarkwithaK · Dec 21, 2008, 09:29 PM

Originally Posted by Ladyviper

No blinkinh light at all, i couldn't even see where one should be. Do they all have lights?

Most do but they are not always in direct site. Mine, for example, you have to look in at a severe angle to see the indicator light.

KC13 · Dec 21, 2008, 10:48 PM

What's that? Poof? Something smells like a dirty flame sensor!