Furnace bugs

[johnhicks]

I just had to pay yet again to have my MH furnace revived after several years of spending winters in warm places. :B

Last time around the tech showed me a bunch of mostly-incinerated tiny bugs in the orifice, and this time the tech showed me a few tiny bugs, enough to cause a weak flame rather than the roaring afterburner it should be.

What are these things, and it there any way to keep them out? Thanks!

[dedmiston]

johnhicks wrote:
These things are gnat-sized. Spider mites appears likely. This spring I'll turn off the manual valve in the furnace and maybe they won't be interested. Thanks!

Maybe purge the line too. Turn off the LP valve at the tank before you switch off the furnace and/or run a stove burner.

[johnhicks]

These things are gnat-sized. Spider mites appears likely. This spring I'll turn off the manual valve in the furnace and maybe they won't be interested. Thanks!

[ken56]

Tiny tiny bugs are usually spider mites. They are small enough to clog orifices and are attracted to the smell of propane.

[wildtoad]

Regardless of local important to maintain furnace or any appliance. Just like exercising generator run furnace from time to time, blow out air input and output tubes. Drain and flush wh every now and then. Best way to assure they work when you need them is to run them when you don’t.

[afidel]

How small? I've got the screens made by Camco for my furnace, water heater, and fridge but they're mostly designed for mud daubers and similar, the screen mesh is sized so it would block lady bugs but not much smaller than that.