Forum Discussion

turbo210_pilot's avatar
Feb 21, 2019

furnace igniter bad?

Has anyone had this problem? Most times when I flip my thermostat switch to heat the unit comes on but shuts down and I need to flip the switch off and on anywhere from 2 6 times before furnace will turn with heat. Sound like an igniter problem? And if so has anyone replaced the igniter on there furnace? Thanks
  • I believe I found the problem with furnace not coming on. As Chris thought it was a switch problem, I tapped on the Limit switch and now it will come on each time I tap that switch. So today I will try to find one locally. Thanks
  • I did find my model number SF35F and member, Chris said it may be a sail switch problem. I tapped on the top of furnace with my hand and turned on furnace and it did come on with heat. So I turned it off on 3 more times and it never came back on heat.
  • OK Suburban. A few years back they had problems on some models that the ignitor would fire and you got a sputtering sound and the flame did not ignite above the burner tube, but inside the burner. The ignitor also functions as the flame sensor and did not sense a flame and would shut down. Cycling the furnace off and back on a few times and it would finally ignite. When it cycled again, it may or may not light. Suburban replaced ours and it was a bit under two years old.

    You might try replacing the burner assembly, but I would just get a new furnace.

    Ken
  • I’ve replaced one. As I recall it would ignite then die. The igniter also serves as the flame sensor.